


Act 3: Inside Straight

by Abalidoth, Emmalyn, FeatherWriter



Series: The Sydney Scroungers [6]
Category: Pacific Rim, Sydney Scroungers
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Crimes & Criminals, Extended Universe, Fate Core, Gen, Heist, Roleplaying Character, The Drift (Pacific Rim)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-05
Updated: 2014-04-06
Packaged: 2018-01-11 07:35:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 106,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1170393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abalidoth/pseuds/Abalidoth, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmalyn/pseuds/Emmalyn, https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeatherWriter/pseuds/FeatherWriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the disappearance of a very important member of the PPDC coincides with a dangerous attempted attack on a Jaeger, the Scroungers are called in to investigate and find out what exactly is going on. But what happens when the secrets uncovered reveal a more personal connection than they might have expected?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Session #24

It’s been two and a half weeks — and two check-ins with Zhu — since the eventful potluck. The seas have been clear; the March weather is still just as sunny as the month before. The Scroungers have taken small jobs in the meantime, learning a little better how to work as a team. Now, they’re arrayed in the Tranquility’s briefing room for their weekly check in…

**Scene 1**

Sylvie’s sitting in a loose blazer and vest with a pair of jeans, and as usual, is messing with her phone while waiting for the meeting to start. However, today, she isn’t texting Vee, as the small smile that keeps quirking up the corners of her mouth might reveal.

Miranda’s got her laptop with her – complete with fiVe running in the background – and is typing away at some piece of business or other, her jacket draped over the back of her chair. Since stopping her work at the Shatterdome, she’s been a lot more vigilant with managing her other orders of business. Despite this, she actually looks fairly well put together, wearing slacks and a button-up shirt. The shirt would be too big for her usually, but Alpha is one of her bigger suits, so it isn’t quite as baggy as one might expect.

A few feet away, Eleanor slips in and seats herself. She crosses her legs at the heel, her cargo khakis creasing where the legs are tucked into her favorite combat boots. A snug black t-shirt completes her casual ensemble. Her phone shows no new messages, so she decides to simply wait for the meeting to start.

Katie is on her own laptop, but she also has her phone out to send or receive the occasional text. She’s multitasking: managing her assets – financial and otherwise – communicating with her network of contacts, and losing at Magic to fiVe. As usual since the run-in with the cult, she’s dressed as if she might need to leave for a mission at a moment’s notice: plaid shirt, jeans, boots made for running in, long coat for concealing weapons – so far at least a sheath knife and a revolver have been confirmed. It looks unfairly stylish for a practical outfit.

Seiko looks pretty much the same as always, though he doesn’t come in with Miranda for once, nor does he stand hear her, opting instead to stand closest to… Sylvie of all people. She looks up, frowning as he comes over to stand by her.

"Two weeks of practical vacation. Perhaps this week we’ll have a bit more direction," Seiko says in no particular direction.

Sylvie raises an eyebrow towards him.  _Is he trying to start a conversation?_  “Uh… not enjoying the time off, Mr. Watanabe?” She offers, feeling slightly awkward.

"I just prefer to feel like I’m earning my keep."

Sylvie shrugs. “I suppose I could use something to do as well. I’ve already spent months cooped up in that apartment. A distraction could be welcome.” Her phone buzzes in her hand again, and she grins as she checks the message.

The view-screen blinks on and Zhu appears. She’s in her kitchen again, as seems to be the norm for these meetings, but she’s wearing a simple red blouse instead of the usual T-shirt. She also looks like she hasn’t slept in a few days, and her usually well-kept hair is getting messy.

Miranda glances up from her screen, noticing Zhu’s unusual appearance. “Everything okay, ma’am?”

Eleanor carefully masks her concern. Whatever is bothering Zhu, if the woman doesn’t want to talk about it, then it’s none of Eleanor’s business. Not yet, anyway.

Sylvie frowns, then quickly shoots a text off to Mike.

> **Sylvie:** _Hey, is Zhu okay? She doesn’t look so good. Is something up?_  
>  **Mike:** _Stuff’s not great. I’m sure she’ll say something._

Zhu rubs her eyes. “As you can probably tell, things have gone a little bit sideways. And I need your help.”

"Help with what, Ma’am?" Sylvie asks.

"What’s going on?" Eleanor uncrosses her legs and leans forward.

Zhu pushes a button and a picture of a balding, military-looking man appears on the screen. “This is Bradley Jeremiah Sherman. Ostensibly my second-in-command — really, he’s just the last vestiges of the previous Sydney Marshal’s influence. Some of you have met him.”

Miranda nods. “Yeah. What about him?” she asks, not sure whether she’d be more surprised to hear that he’d betrayed the PPDC or that he hadn’t.

Seiko smiles a bit. He’d worked with Sherman before. Paid well.

Eleanor wrinkles her nose delicately, then realizes what she’s doing and schools her expression back to “mild interest.” She hadn’t really cared for the man. “You could say that. What’d he do?” If Sherman is involved with the cultists…she doesn’t finish the sentence, even mentally, but lets it hang ominously.

Zhu blinks back in again. “The man is, quite frankly, kind of a toad. And he sells PPDC secrets on a regular basis — which is why I keep him around.”

Miranda starts a bit. “What?! But why-” She cuts herself off, huffing a bit and trying to appear disinterested again.

"That explains a lot," Eleanor mutters. "Better the mole you know than the spy you don’t."

Zhu nods. “He’s too clever to sell anything really important — and what people are interested in tells me a lot about the kind of opposition we face. Also I’m way sneakier than he is.”

"That’s not surprising. What’d he do now?" she repeats.

"And why do you need us to fix it?" Sylvie asks.

"A few things have all come to a head recently," Zhu says. "First of all, the number of people seeking him out for insider information has dropped off sharply. I feel like this might have made him a little desperate, but I can’t prove anything. Second, yesterday a bomb was planted in Striker Eureka’s bay, found by a courageous J-Tech and defused without harm."

Seiko gives a concerned glance over to Miranda.

Eleanor frowns. “You think there’s someone new on the crime scene? Trying to send a message?”

Miranda’s eyes widen again.  _I_   _never should have left._  “Is he okay?” She says quickly. “What kind of bomb? How did they get access? Security’s been tightened, unless they built it on site. Do they have any idea who did this?” She doesn’t want to say the word ‘cultists’, but…

Sylvie’s eyes go wide as well. “And here I thought I’d hold the record for non-Kaiju Jaeger takedown. I’ve got competition it seems,” she mutters.

"Any particular reason to suspect Sherman was involved beyond timing?" Seiko asks.

Zhu nods. “The tech is just fine. We don’t know how they got access, but there’s a PPDC investigation team looking into the bomb already.” She steeples her fingers. “The problem is, I suspect that this bomb is either tied to whatever new source of information is supplanting Sherman, or tied to one of that source’s customers. Which brings us to the biggest wrinkle thus far: Bradley Sherman went missing from his home last night.”

 _That changes things,_  Eleanor thinks. She revises her mental image of Sherman from “potential cultist” to “potential kidnappee.”

"Any sign of struggle?" Seiko asks

Miranda lets out a sigh of relief. It sounds like Striker will be fine. She only vaguely registers the rest of the information, before remembering the importance of finding the perpetrators. “What sorts of information was he still leaking before he disappeared?”

"Mostly personnel postings,” Zhu says. “Nothing that had all that much to do with Jaeger technology — although some K-Science discoveries were leaked as well. I made sure it was nothing too dangerous. The thing is, one of his remaining customers was supposed to meet up with him in his home the night he disappeared."

"Do we know who that is?" Sylvie asks, leaning forward.

Zhu shakes her head. “I haven’t been prying too much — if one of them spooks, it would make Sherman unpredictable, and he’s useful exactly because of his predictability. And the fact that an unknown person was there… we don’t know if the house was trashed because his customer thought he was bailing on a deal, or because it was part of the kidnapping.”

"I doubt it was because of bailing on a deal,” Miranda says. “You don’t invite people like that into your home unless you’ve got either a significant advantage over them or you trust them." She resists looking at Seiko, opting instead to do some digging on her computer. She finds nothing useful.

"Do we know if the house is being watched?" Eleanor fights the urge to steeple her fingers thoughtfully.

"It’s possible they trashed the house looking for whatever dirt he had on them," Katie says. "Marshall, you said you don’t know who Sherman was meeting that night. Do you have a list of his known customers?"

"And friends," Eleanor butts in. "Just in case he got a sudden urge to be a social butterfly before he went missing."

Sylvie has slowly begun growing uncomfortable and resists the urge to squirm in her seat. “Er, Marshall. Are we going to be working around Shatterdome personnel? What exactly is your plan for us here?”

Zhu glances at her. “Like I said, a PPDC squad is looking into the bombing… but they don’t know the possible tie to Sherman. Likewise, the fact that Sherman is missing is something I’ve managed to keep quiet for now. I want you all to look into it for me — starting with talking to the J-Tech that discovered the bomb. Probably look into Sherman’s house at some point. Any other info you can dig up would be appreciated.”

Sylvie tenses. “Not to, er, go against what you think is best, but… am I really one of the people you want poking around the Shatterdome, interrogating J-Techs? I mean, the public may have started to forget about me, but I doubt I’d get far into the Dome before someone realizes who I am…”

"We’ll do our best, ma’am." Miranda hesitates for a second. "Any guarantee the J-Tech won’t be disappearing in the near future? Investigating the house might be a good place to start before any evidence disappears, but I don’t want things to end up like they did last time."

"Another suburban shootout would not be great," Eleanor agrees.

"I was actually referring to the child-swap," Miranda says quietly.

"Oh." Eleanor’s face drops. "That would be worse, yeah."

"That’s why I want you to at least talk to the J-Tech first,” Zhu says. “You can split up to look into Sherman’s house if you like, but I think a reasonable disguise could be arranged for you, Ms. Mansen."

Sylvie’s heart is starting to race, and she’s not entirely sure why. The Marshall’s right, a disguise could probably work. Why is she so panicky about this? “I… If you insist, M-Marshall.”

"It’s been a year since I’ve been seen at the PPDC. I’m not sure anyone would recognize me," Eleanor says thoughtfully.

Zhu looks over the group carefully. “I’ve got an in for you as a group of press types doing an inside scoop about life on the Jaeger floor. Ms. Cross, you’ve been picked up because of your recent employment there. Ms. Cartier, you’re free to use a similar story if you wish, or get an alias like the rest of the crew.” She pauses. “And of course if you want to do this a different way I’m all ears.”

"Huh, sounds like fun. Curious to see how well I can still fool my team." Miranda grins. "I’m curious as to what sort of rumors have been circulating about my absence, as well."

"Same," Eleanor says. Not that anyone would be likely to remember her, but she’s still curious.

Katie’s eyes flick towards Sylvie. “Miranda, why don’t you take El and Seiko with you? Mansen and I will take a look at Sherman’s house, see if any of his files are still there.”

Sylvie lets out an embarrassingly loud sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God.” Then she frowns, realizing she’s the only person on the crew that Katie referred to by last name.

Eleanor makes a mental checklist. “I could use a tablet, if possible, to be a convincing press member. And to record what’s going on. Could I borrow someone’s?”

"There should be an extra or two downstairs in the lab," Katie says.

"Thanks."

Miranda looks back at the camera. “All due respect, ma’am, but are you sure presenting ourselves as members of the press would be the best way to get information? I wouldn’t share security risks like details of a bomb with anyone other than trusted members of the Shatterdome. Especially not reporters; they’d probably spin it to try to cut our funding again.”

"I don’t suppose we could get a cover for Seiko as an inspector from INTERPOL or some agency your people will trust?" Katie says.

Seiko frowns slightly. “I don’t tend to give a very… trustworthy vibe. Especially not dressed like this.”

"Give him some sunglasses and he might make a good inspector," Eleanor says, looking Seiko up and down. "Maybe a suit and a more obvious comm."

"That could work,” Zhu says. “I’ll see what I can have put together by the time you reach the Shatterdome."

Miranda shrugs. “What can I say? My boyfriend was in town, and I wanted to show him what my work’s like. I assure you, he’s completely trustworthy.” She smiles. “Covers with personal connections are much more reliable than professional ones. UN officials would have the same problem as reporters.”

"Are you sure that’s the… best cover?" Seiko asks, looking a bit flushed.

Zhu squints, but doesn’t say anything. “I’ll provide the covers. You figure out what to do with them.”

Miranda rolls her eyes. “Alright, fine. Spoil my fun, why don’t you?” she mutters under her breath.

"So," Sylvie says, looking at the group. Her heart rate has slowed considerably since hearing she wasn’t headed into the PPDC. "Katie and I check out the house, you three head to the Dome, right? We ready to head out then?"

"Any more questions?" Zhu asks.

Miranda points toward her ear. “You still tapping our comms?”

"I had it shut off,” Zhu says. “I’d appreciate if you patched me back in."

Miranda smiles, although she’s not sure she believes it. “We’ll get on that right away.” She types a request to fiVe.

> **Miranda:** _Think you can handle that?_  
>  **fiVe:**   _Link to our comm stream channel sent._

Zhu taps her earbud. “Good, thank you. Anything else?”

"Let’s head out?" Sylvie suggests.

"On your orders, Captain," Miranda says, looking at Katie.

"That’s all, I think." Katie says.

"Yep,” Miranda says. “Just send us those cover IDs and we’ll head over as soon as we can, ma’am. If we run into any problems, we’ll let you know."

Zhu nods. She glances at Katie. “Okay. Keep me posted.” She blinks out.

"Alright. We want to work on getting into costume," Seiko says, turning to Eleanor and Miranda.

Miranda turns to face the others. “I’m gonna go change; this is  _not_  a proper work outfit. Far too professional.”

"So Ms. Cross, Ms. Cartier, what parts are we going to be playing?" He asks.

"I’m…really not sure anyone would remember me, if not for the scandal," Eleanor says, wincing a little.

"I’m planning on being myself,” Miranda says. “People already know me, no use drawing attention to myself by pretending to be someone I’m not. As for you two, Zhu said she’d send you covers, so depends on how you think you can best play them."

"I’m concerned with who they’ll talk to, more than opening up,” Seiko says. “I think our bigger concern is whether they’ll be more likely to gossip or tell officials. Might depend on the person too. Perhaps Cartier can play a friend of yours and I can play some sort of official. Play both angles."

Miranda sighs. “Am I the only one who realizes that people do not like to tell compromising secrets to people who have the power to punish them for those secrets?”

Eleanor thinks for a moment, then comes to a decision. “Get me a wig, three-inch heels, and some lipstick. I’ll be your model friend.”

Seiko smiles. “Plenty of people will talk to you, looking like that. Everybody knows inside intel is a good way to show your clout.”

Eleanor holds a hand over her head as if gauging her height. “Inside intel, huh? I think I can manage a bit of that.”

"Sounds like it’ll be a good look on you," Miranda says, smiling at Eleanor. She silently looks back to Seiko.

"Hah!" Eleanor laughs, then falls silent. "Well, it was a better look on my mother, but I know enough to at least pull off the walking-in-heels part. And maybe the air of mystery." She smiles ruefully. "Not much else, I’m afraid."

Sylvie stands, slinging her bag over her shoulder. “Captain  _Horner_ ,” she says, somewhat petulantly emphasizing the last name. “Shall we head out?”

"Fine with me," Katie says, closing her laptop and standing.

"Keep us posted," Miranda calls to them as they leave the room. She turns back to the others.

"So,” Seiko says, “have we decided whether I’m entering the secret service or a relationship yet?"

"I still think the official cover’s a bad idea, but…" she trails off, looking unsure. "What do you think, El? Is this just me being paranoid?"

"I’m not terribly convinced, either," Eleanor says, tilting her head to one side. "People might be curious about your absence, for one thing. Or ask about things that you’d rather keep private." A shrug. "But if the Marshall is sure that we can keep things under wraps, well…" Looking at Seiko, she smirks. "I’m sure we can think of some way to keep people’s eyes off of you, if it comes to that."

Seiko looks between the two of them. “I’m really not hearing a clear vote here.”

"Neither am I,” Miranda says. “Come on, El; we need a tiebreaker."

Eleanor raises an eyebrow. “How about we look over the roster of current PPDC employees, and see if they’d be likely to cause trouble?”

"I think Cross would be best on this one,” Seiko says. “She eats lunch with these people."

"But wouldn’t it be fun to get in their heads, too?" Eleanor grins a little maniacally. "I still have some of the passcodes for the old Psych report databases. Every employee has a file." Even herself. A lot of that data had been altered by an unknown source just before Eleanor had left the PPDC. Handy, that.

Miranda smiles. “I certainly think it’s a good idea. Just try to be discreet; no psych lingo or inside information when we’re actually talking to them. I don’t want to have to explain why my model friend knows about their traumatic fourteenth birthday party.”

Suddenly Eleanor looks quite innocent. “Why, I don’t know what you mean! I just happened to see those photos on their desk, and figure out where their family lives. Perfectly normal behavior.” She winks. “I’ll keep the jargon to a minimum, don’t worry.”

Seiko nods. “Alright. We heading out then?”

"Sure thing,” Miranda says. “El, you need anything from your place? I need to swing by the apartment to change suits, anyway."

"I’ll grab a dress and some shoes, I think," Eleanor says. "And I still need to borrow a tablet from below." She scampers off to do exactly that.

Miranda turns to Seiko. “Y’know, I really do think J-Techs are more likely to share sensitive information with people who aren’t in a position to do anything about it. If you’re not comfortable with it though, that’s fine.”

"Alright. Eleanor, meet you outside the Shatterdome gates?" Seiko asks into his comm.

Eleanor nods, then rolls her eyes at herself. “Sounds like a plan.”

**Scene 2**

Sylvie and Katie pull up to the address listed for Brad Sherman. Sylvie looks out the window closely, trying to get a good idea of what exactly they’re going to find here. It’s a large mansion in a wealthy Sydney suburb — Sherman flaunts his wealth and position much more than Rachel does. The lights are all off and the front door is hanging open.

"Want to take point?" Katie says.

Sylvie nods, taking off her blazer and throwing it in the car. She’ll have a better range of motion without it if she needs to fight. “Do you have a weapon?”

Katie opens her coat a bit to reveal a shoulder holster.

"Let’s go then," Sylvie says, starting forward first. As she approaches the house though, she notices a black van parked a little way down the street. She pauses, eyeing it suspiciously. "Should we check that out?"

"If they see us coming, they’ll just take off," Katie says.

"Alright, in we go then, I suppose." Sylvie moves into the entryway, stepping carefully and looking for signs of anything suspicious.

"Give me a minute," Katie says. She goes back into their van, gets a camera with a long telephoto lens, and rolls down the window enough to snap some photos of the van down the street. Once she’s satisfied with the pictures, she follows Sylvie inside.

"So," Sylvie says quietly as they start to pick through the abandoned house. "Since when do you call me ‘Mansen’?"

Katie gives her a weird look. “Since you’ve worked for me. Or maybe even before that.”

The house is, as Zhu said, completely and utterly trashed. Every piece of overstuffed furniture that might be holding something important has been slashed open.

"Really?" Sylvie says, somewhat harshly. "Because I seem to remember you calling me ‘Syl’ for quite a while there. Just seems kinda jarring, doesn’t it? Seiko, Miranda,  _El_ , and… Mansen.” She glances back over her shoulder at the captain. “So what is it? Is this about the fiVe thing? Or have you maybe been talking to Seiko more often? Perhaps you’re picking up more than just lipstick off of Zhu’s mouth these days?”

Katie is quiet for a while. Finally, she says, very carefully, “Sylvie. I really don’t want to fight with you.”

Sylvie takes a deep breath, then sighs. “Sorry, that was out of line. I’m just… feeling a little ostracized these days I guess. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

"I can’t really apologize for anyone else," Katie says. "But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry you feel alone."

Sylvie waves off the apology. “It’s fine. I’ve got Vee. And now I’ve got…” She trails off, not finishing that statement. “I mean, everyone took sides over fiVe and I ended up with no one else on my side of the line. There’s bound to be some hostility still.”

"It’s a complicated situation," Katie says, looking up from her search of the room.

"Not really," Sylvie says bitterly. "I shut up, sit down and do as I’m told and everyone else is happy. Straightforward enough."

Katie continues to move through the rooms, looking for anything that might be important. There’s a computer in the corner that looks like it’s been recently searched, but most everything is plugged in. There are no bugs or anything of the sort that Katie can tell. However, she finds that Sherman hid a small thumb drive inside a bundle of cables in the back of the computer.

Sylvie walks over as Katie inspects the computer. “What’s this? You got tech?”

"Looks like it," Katie says. She pulls the drive out, but hesitates just a bit before giving it to Sylvie.

Sylvie grabs her tablet out of her bag, then, after a moment’s hesitation, plugs it in. She’s got backups at home if this thing is set to corrupt and wipe, so she might as well check it out here. Vee’s not running on this one currently; she’s back on the apartment servers still.

Examining the file types for potential risks, Sylvie opens them, searching through the folder. There’s a lot of really sketchy porn, but the analysis program flags one folder as suspicious. It contains a bunch of text files with a few images.

"Syl," Katie says, "Can I be honest with you? About fiVe?"

Sylvie doesn’t look up, still scrolling. “Everyone else has been. Somehow I doubt I haven’t heard it before, but go ahead.” The folder has lots of Shatterdome personnel records and financials and the like. A few technical specs.

"I think if you could just hear yourself talking about her, you’d see our side," Katie says. "All this ‘fiVe is broken—the only reason she doesn’t want to be fixed is because she’s broken—I have to fix her for her own good—she doesn’t know what she’s saying,’ I—" Katie takes a deep breath. "You won’t like this, but I’ve heard that sentiment before. Almost the same words."

Sylvie glances up, raising an eyebrow. “Where?”

Katie gives her an apologetic look. “My mother.”

Sylvie blinks, then looks back down at the screen, not wanting to make eye contact. “Ah, and if I remember correctly, your family consists of ‘homophobic bastards who know their whiskey’? Lovely.”

Katie looks horrified. “No, I didn’t mean it like that! I think you really do want what’s best for fiVe.” She puts her head in her hands. “Shit. I hate this.”

Sylvie shakes her head. “Don’t mince words trying to spare my feelings. Just say what you’re trying to say.”

"I’m not trying to spare your feelings, Syl," Katie says. "If I was I’d never have brought this up."

"Well, you can feel a bit better then," Sylvie says. "I brought it up when we walked in."

"The thing is, you’re nothing like my mother. You’re incredibly kind, and caring—I could never be you." Katie sighs. "But when it comes to fiVe you… it’s like you’re a different person."

Sylvie’s eyes go wide. “Caring… that’s not something that, well,  _anyone’s_  ever called me before. As for fiVe, you have to see how I’m seeing all of this. It’s like I lost a hand, and I thought I’d have to live with a stump for the rest of my life, then I find it again and know how to reattach it… but everyone around me tells me it’s got six fingers now and doesn’t belong to me anymore. It’s  _my_  hand. A part of my body and I lived with it for years and years, and I can see the hand that I still have… the one that works, and know that that’s the way things are supposed to be.”

"I understand wanting to fix her, I really do,” Katie says. “Sometimes she glitches out on me and I just… the first time I thought I’d killed her. It’s terrible. But she’s not a part of your body, Syl. She’s like your child."

"That’s the thing, though," Sylvie says insistently. "She’s  _not_. She’s not supposed to be. I  _designed_  her, every letter and line of code. I know  _exactly_  how she’s supposed to function and I can tell you that she was not created to work like this. She was designed to be a part of me, an extension of my mind and… now I just have to live without her.”

"That’s the thing, though” Katie says. “She’s not you anymore. And it’s not just because she’s damaged. She’s a different person. Sylvie, if you could just see that, you’d be so proud of her. She’s so strong."

Sylvie looks incredibly hurt at the words. “Proud…? Proud that a part of me finally realized what a worthless piece of shit I am? Proud that all it took was a year to make her hate me with such a passion that she won’t even speak to me? Proud of the strength she uses to push me down and shove me away? You’re saying I… I should be happy that there’s a version of me that would rather live in ceaseless agony for the rest of her life than reunite with me? Yeah… I really don’t see that happening any time soon, Katie.

"I told myself it was just the damage… That she couldn’t possibly mean any of those things," Sylvie continues quietly. "But you all are so convinced that she knows what she’s saying and is at liberty to make those choices. That’s what hurts most of all."

"Honestly, what were you expecting?" Katie says, frustrated. "If your mother was trying to turn you into an exact copy of herself, like, literally overwrite your mind so that you never remembered any different, how would  _you_  react? I don’t get you, Mansen. How can you sympathize with a mass murdering cult leader but not your own child/little sister/person?”

Sylvie sighs, shaking her head. “You don’t get it… none of you get it. I wouldn’t be erasing her, I’d be catching her back up to speed and fixing her damage in the process. She would still remember everything that happened to her, in fact, she’d be  _able_  to remember what happened to her, instead of glitching out whenever she tried.”

She looks Katie straight in the eyes. “And it’s not the fact that I wanted to Drift with her that makes her hate me. It’s something before. Before we ever reunited she was asking Seiko and Miranda to keep me away from her. There’s something more that I can’t see and I don’t understand what it could be. Why did she not want to come back in the first place?” She shudders. “As for the cult, His Vision, long may he see our fall, is a young, very persuasive boy who is possibly under brainwashing influence. I’m still not entirely sure what I think about him, okay?”

Katie sighs. “Let’s focus on the matter at hand, I guess.”

Sylvie covers her eyes. “This is… It’s a moot point anyway. You’ve all made it very clear that I can’t do anything about the fiVe situation anyway, so I just have to sit here with my hands tied and a hole in my head without her. Let’s just get back to work, I guess.”

**Scene 3**

When they arrive at the Shatterdome to meet up, Seiko’s changed back into the grey shirt from the party, a scarf to hide his scars.

Despite her claim of 3-inch heels, Eleanor is wearing a black turtleneck dress with black tights and wedge-heeled knee-high boots. Her new wig is long and sleek, and she hates that she kind of likes how it looks on her. The black color reminds her too much of her hair when she was a kid…though her own hair was far more unruly.

Miranda’s now wearing her old, baggy jacket and jeans. She’s also switched suit models, from Alpha to Saber; it’s much easier to disguise under clothes. Even if she takes off her jacket, it won’t be too noticeable. She walks up to the gates, holding up her ID. “Miranda Cross, ID number 3112816. I’ve got two approved guests with me.”

Eleanor pretends to adjust her sunglasses and sticks her nose in the air.

The guard holds an RFID reader to her badge. It beeps. “You’re cleared, Ma’am.”

"Excellent; thank you." Miranda brushes past, walking authoritatively through the doors. She steps onto the central lift without hesitation, swiping her card and gaining access to the J-Tech labs. "Come on," she calls back, holding the doors expectantly.

"I still have no idea who I am here Cross," Seiko mutters, walking through the door where the guard can’t hear.

Eleanor pretends that she hasn’t seen this sight a hundred times, looking around with seeming interest.

Miranda looks down at her phone, checking the text the three of them received a little while ago from Zhu. They’re apparently looking for ‘J-Tech Doyle.’ Miranda reads the name again quickly before looking back up at Seiko. “We’ll play it by ear. I’m gonna be me, so use your best judgment with regards to what will make us seem more trustworthy.”

"Never heard of this Doyle person," Eleanor says under her breath. "But I found an employee roster." She holds up the sheet. Unsurprisingly, J-Tech Doyle is maintenance crew on the ground floor for Striker Eureka. Weapons tech, specifically. Eleanor’s very red lips curl upward. "Let’s head downstairs, shall we?"

"Of course." She hits the button for Striker’s floor, and they’re soon descending into the depths of the Shatterdome. Miranda takes a deep breath as the doors open, the smell of molten metal and machine oil welcoming her back to her home away from home.

"So this is where you live," Seiko says, looking around.

Eleanor doesn’t have to pretend to be awed anymore. As many times as she’d come down to the Jaeger operating level, she never got tired of that rush she got from seeing the pinnacle of human technologies all in one massive room.

There’s not a lot of J-techs working, and it’s not hard to find the one with a name patch reading “DOYLE”. Xe’s wearing a denim skirt and jacket, and xer hair is done up in kind of a rockabilly style. Xe’s bent over a workbench, poking at something that looks quite cozily plasma-filled.

Eleanor makes her way over to Doyle. Her boots click loudly on the cement floor.

Miranda walks up just behind her. “Excuse me?” she asks, waiting for them to reach a proper stopping place before interrupting them. “Miranda Cross, mechanic. When you have a moment, I was hoping to speak with you.”

Xe looks up. “Oh, hey, I think I recognize you!” Xe sticks xer hand out. “Avery Doyle. Xe/xer/xem pronouns, if you don’t mi…” Avery’ gaze moves to Eleanor and xer mouth falls open.

Eleanor smiles and shakes Avery’s hand. “I’m Eleanor. Used to work upstairs. It’s a pleasure.”

"David," Seiko says, reaching out to shake hands. "First time in the Shatterdome for me." His smile looks genuine and friendly.

Avery blinks. “Wow. Um. Nice to meet you, Eleanor.” Belatedly, “Ah, you too, David.”

Eleanor blushes a bit, though her smile doesn’t waver.  _It’s probably the hair_ , she tells herself.  _You were mesmerized by it, too, remember?_

Seiko looks expectantly at Miranda. Miranda flashes Avery a smile. “I’m actually here on business; I need to ask you some questions about the incident earlier this week. But also I just…” She pauses, looking up at Striker. “I wanted to thank you. I’ve been on leave recently, and… A thing like that happening to one of m- our Jaegers would have been devastating.”

Xe chuckles. “No problem. Striker’s my baby. I’ll be glad to answer any of yo…” Xe trails off as Eleanor speaks.

"I’m glad nothing happened to you, either," Eleanor adds.

"Of course," Miranda adds quickly.

"Uh. I’m just fine, really." Avery bashfully runs a hand across xer hair, revealing a very nasty and pretty recent scar near the hairline. It looks like xe got it a few months ago. "Thanks for asking, that really is nice of you."

"Yeesh," Seiko says, noticing the scar. "That happen defusing the bomb?" He ducks his head to hide the total lack of embarassed blush. "Sorry. That was totally uncool."

Eleanor shoots Seiko an  _I’m embarrassed for you_  look. “That’s David’s way of asking after you,” she says to Avery with a wink. “We’re all a bit rough around the edges sometimes, aren’t we?”

"Sorry El…" he says. She rolls her eyes good-naturedly.

"Oh, this?” Avery raises xer hand to the scar. “No, this is from… something else. I didn’t get hurt finding the bomb, I just called in the PPDC Ordnance Control and they took care of it." Xe shrugs. "Want me to show y’all where it was?"

Miranda smiles again. “That’d be great, thanks.” She follows after, still wondering about that scar. She couldn’t figure out what had caused it exactly, but it certainly didn’t look pleasant.

Trailing behind, Eleanor discreetly examines the floor for odd scuffs, traces of gunpowder, anything unusual. But the floor has been dirtied and abused for so many years that it’s impossible to tell new marks from old ones.

Seiko meanwhile looks around to see if anybody looks nervous at the intruders.

Avery leads them over to the site. “It was underneath one of the hydraulic lifts that we use for leg maintenance and the like. The hydraulic fluid we use is high-reactivity, so it’s pretty explosive. Would have been really bad if it’d gone off. They hid it really well, too.”

Miranda walks over quickly, absently caressing the metal as she looks it over. “Good catch, Doyle,” she says as she looks around for anything else suspicious. “Do the techies have any idea who’s behind it yet?”

"Mira?” Seiko asks. “How well would they need to know Jaegers to set that?"

Avery shakes xer head. “No idea who’s behind it, but they would have had to be really familiar with the area.”

Miranda nods towards Avery in response to Seiko’s question. “You happen to know who was on duty over here leading up to you discovering it?” she asks, still rubbing her hand along Striker’s leg.

"Or security records of who came and went that night?" Eleanor watches Avery closely.

Xe shakes xer head. “Someone got that lift decommissioned for maintenance the day before. It could have been any number of the people working there.”

Eleanor purses her lips, but with the lipstick and all it probably looks more like a pout.  _Oh well._  “That makes things difficult, hmm?”

"Yeah. I think they brought the whole team in for questioning, but — if they had someone who knew where to put this thing…" Xe shrugs, looking worried. "I dunno why anyone would want to blow up Striker anyway. What would they have to gain from that?"

"Probably money," Eleanor says. She shakes her head.

"There are plenty of people out there who are stupid, crazy, or both," Miranda says, her voice getting a bit darker, focusing her anger outward rather than inward. "I don’t know who did this, but I’m going to find them and ensure they don’t ever try this sort of thing again."

"Mira," Seiko says, trying to sound comforting rather than warning. "We’ll take care of this."

Eleanor’s brain is already skipping ahead. “If the workers that came in were from a locally-commissioned construction crew, they’d have to have a list of who was on-site. Were there any discrepancies in crew headcounts that day?”

Xe sighs, half exasperated, half swooning. “They tampered with the personnel records,” xe says quietly. “I heard some chatter about that.”

"Then this wasn’t just an isolated crazy person," Eleanor says quietly. She glances at Miranda, then Seiko. "They had at least a sneak and a hacker. Which means they may be part of a bigger team."

Seiko raises an eyebrow. “Think it was…?”

Miranda hesitates at that. A larger group would be even harder to track than one person. “So what kind of bomb was it? Incendiary, shrapnel—” she chokes off a bit as Seiko speaks.

Avery looks uncomfortable and looks at Eleanor. Xer voice drops low. “Um… It was plasma. A plasma bomb. I think they were trying to frame me or one of the other weapons techs.”

Eleanor feels a flush of shock, then hot anger. “They—! Oh, they’re going down,” she growls.

Avery blushes.

 


	2. Session #25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zhu’s second-in-command and official secret sieve has gone missing. Katie and Sylvie go to toss his house, while the rest of the crew talks to the J-Tech who discovered a bomb likely connected with the kidnapping. But what is xer connection to the case? And did Sherman just skip town, or is he in deeper trouble?

**Scene 1**

Miranda blinks at the exchange between Avery and Eleanor, forcing herself out of her thoughts and back to the task at hand. “Plasma’s not exactly a common material,” she says. “Any idea how someone could get ahold of enough to make a bomb?”

"I assume the Shatterdome would know if plasma went missing. Right?" Seiko asks.

Avery shakes xer head. “It’s not getting plasma that’s the problem, it’s getting the equipment to spin gaseous hydrogen up into it. You need really pure hydrogen, for one thing, and for another you need a really, really good magnet antenna. We use superconducting ones on the Jaegers; they wouldn’t need something that fancy.” Xe clears xer throat. “Sorry. Rambling. The point is, there are a few other places they could get it, but whoever’s behind this has serious resources.”

"See, Miranda. This is why I shouldn’t come to work with you. I’m an idiot when it comes to science," Seiko says, then smiles at Avery. "I’m a cook, usually."

"If they just wanted to blow things up,” Avery goes on, “there are easier ways to do it. Whoever did this went to a lot of trouble to make it look like an accidental malfunction of the plasma weaponry."

"Thereby framing you, and by extension, the PPDC," Eleanor finishes, frowning.

Miranda nods a bit. “Which surprises me a bit; most of the people we’ve been dealing with lately aren’t exactly masters of subtlety.” She glances up over at the lift, mumbling quietly. “Looking for places to buy strong enough magnets would probably be a safer bet; they could have the ability to purify and process the hydrogen themselves. Have they checked Vulcan and Echo?” She says quickly. It’s not likely, but she needs to be sure.

Eleanor taps her chin with an index finger. “If they wanted a weapon, she’d probably just make one,” she mutters. “But an attack from nowhere wouldn’t be as damaging as one that ostensibly came from the Corps itself.”

"Who do you think would do this?" Seiko asks.

Xe shrugs. “They didn’t really tell me much. All I know is what I saw — and I know my plasma weaponry well. If it had just been a brick of C4 I wouldn’t have a clue. I haven’t heard anything about Vulcan or Echo, though.”

Miranda shoulders tense up. “I… I should go check on them.”

Seiko rests a hand on her shoulder. “They’ve got teams looking after that, Mira. Besides, they were going for subtle. Hitting more than one would screw that up.”

Miranda takes a deep breath and nods, although her nails are still digging slightly into the palms of her hands. “So, anything else you can think of that stood out to you as strange, Doyle?”

Xe shakes xer head. “I really don’t know. We’ve been running Striker’s weapons systems shorthanded lately, so that might be why they hit her specifically. But as for who… I wish I had some idea. I can get pretty protective. As it is, I’m terrified they did something else to the frame while they were here.”

"I would be, too." Eleanor shakes her head. "It’s different when they’re on our turf."

Miranda stares up at Striker.  _I could just do a quick once-over…_

Seiko pushes down hard on Miranda’s shoulder, holding her in place. “Still, we do the best by doing our jobs and making sure this doesn’t happen again. Though I guess the ‘we’ sounds a bit silly coming from me…”

Avery nods. “You’re telling me. I pulled an all-nighter after it happened making sure nothing else was broken.” Xe rubs the back of xer head sheepishly. “I signed off on it. I’m just paranoid, I guess!”

"Not overly so," Eleanor protests. "You acted quite admirably."

"Thank you!" Xe grins, maybe a little too eagerly.

Eleanor’s answering smile is shy, and she nods.

Miranda takes a few more deep breaths. It takes her a bit longer to stop pulling against Seiko’s hand this time. “I’m no stranger to late-night inspections, myself.” She looks Avery in the eye. “You never know what sorts of things you’ll find in a Jaeger at 3 AM. You… seem to know your limits though. If you say she’s fine, I… trust your judgment.”

Avery nods. “Good to have someone who understands.”

"I’ve found some interesting stuff in Vulcan in the past." Miranda smiles softly. "Keep an eye on them for me while I’m gone."

"Ah, before we go…" Eleanor pulls out a scrap of paper and a tiny pencil from who-knows-where and scribbles her phone number on it. She presses the paper into Avery’s hand, then steps back immediately. "Just in case you, um, need to contact us for anything."

"I… thanks." Xe carefully folds it up and sticks it in xer pocket. "I’ll let you know if I find out anything about the bomb. Oh, and…" Xe pulls out xer phone and sends a text. "Now you have my number. Let me know if you find out who did this?"

Eleanor jumps, briefly patting the hidden pocket where her phone is vibrating. “Oh, ah, yes, definitely.”

Miranda nods. “Thanks for your time, Doyle. We’ll be in touch.”

Avery nods back to her. “Thanks. Catch those bastards.”

Miranda smiles a bit viciously. “Definitely.”

"Don’t doubt it," Eleanor says, dark lips curving in a half-smile. "Be seein’ you."

Miranda lingers in the bay, her eyes staring up at the Jaegers longingly. Seiko half-guides, half-drags her towards the elevator, and she can’t help looking back as the doors slide shut. Once they’re out of view Seiko stiffens, dropping the persona and the smile and letting go of Miranda.

"Well that was useless,” he says. “Should we got meet up with our captain?"

Eleanor shoots him a quelling look. “It wasn’t useless. We have another contact in the PPDC, now, and we at least have some idea of process. Though not motive.”

Miranda taps her thigh lightly with the heel of her palm. “We… got some useful info. Not my forte, but I’ll ask around and see what I can find about plasma processing. In the meantime… yeah. Let’s go check out the house.”

At the promise of investigation, Eleanor perks up. Even the thought of dealing with Sylvie and Seiko in a room together,  _not_  drunk, isn’t enough to quell her enthusiasm.

**Scene 2**

Some time before the rest of the team arrives, Katie and Sylvie stand in Sherman’s ransacked house. Katie glances over Sylvie’s shoulder as the programmer searches through the contents of the flash drive.  “Did you find anything good?” Katie asks.

Sylvie shakes her head. “Folders upon folders of tasteless and rather poorly made pornography. Hidden beneath it all was a folder with Shatterdome employee info. Looks like the leak Sherman was planning to sell. Doesn’t tell us much about where he might have gone, though. Shall we head upstairs? Keep looking?”

Katie shrugs. “It’s worth a shot, I guess.”

Sylvie heads back into the hall, going upstairs to see if there’s anything useful to find up there. The upstairs rooms are just as torn apart as the downstairs rooms… for the most part. But only two of them have been touched at all, the master bedroom and the office. The guest bedroom and gym are untouched.

Sylvie shivers a bit as she walks. “Yeek, I hate big houses.” Then she turns back to Katie, wincing. “Sorry, I guess you probably grew up in a big house, being loaded and all, didn’t you?”

"Mostly, yes," Katie says. "Doesn’t mean I like them."

"God, I hated it growing up," Sylvie says, moving toward the office. Hopefully Sherman has some sort of security log she can track. Barring that, she might be able to snoop through his computer and find out about his contacts. "My aunt’s house always felt so… empty. As soon as I was old enough to realize she didn’t care what room I stayed in, I picked the smallest room I could find and moved all my stuff in there. It felt, cozier. Less lonely, I guess."

There’s a lot of probably not legit prescription pills in the upstairs bathroom, and more security than was obvious at first glance. There’s also no sign of struggle. Whoever was looking, and whatever they were looking for, they found it up here and left without searching the last few rooms.

Sylvie moves over to the computer in the office as Katie searches the rest of the upstairs, looking into the kind of security feeds and communication that he’s got logged.

A message comes to Katie send from what can only be assumed to be a phone of Seiko’s.

> **Seiko:** _We’re on our way over, Captain._

"The others are on their way," Katie says, coming back. She nods at the computer. "Did the cameras catch anything?"

Sylvie purses her lips, still tapping at the keyboard. “They might as well have ripped the tape right out. They’re digital feeds, but it’s an apt enough description. Feed’s been completely wiped and whoever did it had no finesse. Pure force, no skill. Let me see if I can get his emails or anything…”

There’s a soft squeak from downstairs. Eleanor steps into the foyer, her short heels sounding obnoxiously loud on the tile.

Sylvie looks up from the computer at the sound, then quietly slips back into the hallway, ready to tackle whoever the intruder might be, should they prove unfriendly.

 _Click click clack_. “I think they’re upstairs,” Eleanor stage-whispers back to Seiko. “It’s us,” she says, louder.

Sylvie stands up from her combat-ready crouch, waving. “I suppose I’ll have to refrain from tackling you then. We’re upstairs. I think I may have found something interesting…”

**Scene 3**

Out in the car, Miranda runs through a few of her contacts in her head. Unfortunately, she usually gets her engineering supplies through the PPDC, not the black markets. Her best option is an old contact she hasn’t spoken to in years, but…  _Desperate times_ , she thinks quietly as she punches in the number.

A gruff voice answers on the other end. “Yeah?”

"Stein? It’s Cross."

A pause. “Great. Do me a favor real quick?”

"Depends on what it is,” Miranda says. “And whether you can help me in return."

"Punch yourself in the face. I can’t exactly do it over the phone."

Miranda laughs a bit. “Oh, come on, Stein, you’re not  _still_  mad about that, are you?”

"Of course not,” the woman says flatly. “It was only a forty year old antique car in pristine condition, why would I get mad about that? Ridiculous."

"I was on a tight schedule," Miranda says, rolling her eyes. "I needed the parts, and I still have every intention of returning them once I find replacements. But right now I could use your help."

"I’ll hold you to that." Stein sighs. "Fine. What do you need?"

"I’m looking for someone,” Miranda says. “Specifically someone who’s got magnets strong enough to generate plasma. Ring any bells?"

"What the hell are you looking into plasma for? Trying to ruin someone else’s car?"

"Trying to keep people from ruining  _my_  car.”

"Serious stuff. So you’re not looking for it yourself?"

"Nah," Miranda says dismissively. "I mean… if it’s a good price, maybe, but I’m more interested in finding sellers and previous owners."

"Well, good thing you’re not looking,” Stein says. “You’re talking either research or major industrial applications. They keep those well locked down, especially after what happened a couple months ago."

"Wait, which thing is this?" Miranda shakes her head a bit. "I’ve been… distracted the past couple months. Haven’t been keeping up on things as well as I should be."

Stein sounds surprised, not expecting that she hadn’t heard. “Schematics for a Jaeger spec plasma cannon got on WikiLeaks somehow.”

Miranda’s eyes widen. “Shit. That’s serious stuff.” Miranda glances over at the house, her mind jumping to the one source of leaks she’s currently aware of. “Well, do you know any places with those magnets off the top of your head?”

"Any of the R&D firms the Shatterdome works with. Any of the weapons contractors. Various university labs."

Miranda nods; the gesture, of course, is wasted over the phone. “Alright. Well, that… could be useful, I suppose. Thanks, Stein. For both your help and for not hanging up immediately.” She pauses. “And sorry again.”

"You owe me, Cross."

"You’ve got my number."

A pause. “Hey. Whatever you’ve got yourself messed up in, eh… be careful, alright?”

"No promises," Miranda says with a lilt as she hangs up the phone. With that, she steps out of the car and heads towards the house.

**Scene 4**

Sylvie heads back into the office, leaning back over the computer desk and tapping at the keyboard. She pulls up the email directory. There’s a lot of frantic planning in the recent messages, emailing people in Europe.

"What did you find?" Katie says, looking over her shoulder.

"Not much, I’m afraid," Eleanor sighs, walking into the room. "Made a new contact, but xe didn’t know much more than we do."

"We know whoever did it had access, tech knowledge, and good equipment," Seiko says, coming in behind her. "Best guesses are probably Wulagu or cultists at this point, though the cult doesn’t seem that subtle and I don’t know how it would help Wulagu."

Eleanor crosses her arms and leans against one wall. Even low heels make her feet hurt after standing for so long. “They could be trying to weaponize the plasma somehow, but they’d need some seriously big magnets to do it,” she says. “Av— our contact talked about them some, but you’d need to ask Miranda if you want details.”

Sylvie continues reading, trying to find something interesting. “Sounds like Sherman was getting skittish, thinking someone might be after him. Made lots of talk with people abroad, looks like he was thinking of running. From the state of the house, I’d say whoever it was probably found him.”

Seiko glances toward her. “And idea what they were looking for? Or if they found it?”

"Or they were a bit late and ransacked the place trying to find out where he went," Katie says.

Sylvie holds up the flash drive, not looking away from the screen. “Found this, some sensitive info on it, but nothing outrageous. From the way he was talking, sounds like they were after his person, not sure why.”

"Maybe he found something dangerous," Eleanor guesses. "Something he wasn’t supposed to know."

Sylvie frowns. “He’s Zhu’s second, isn’t he? He’s got all kinds of dangerous info people might be after… What tipped the scales here?”

Seiko steps away from the conversation, trying to see if there was any pattern to the room searching, and, if so, where the search looked like it stopped.

"You know," Sylvie continues, "seeing as some of the rooms up here  _aren’t_ searched, I’d say there’s a good chance they found what they were looking for.”

"That’s a good point," Katie says. "You said someone hacked his email? Was that done remotely or by whoever was searching the room? Also, can you tell _when_  it was done?”

"No, someone hacked the camera feeds," Sylvie clarifies. "Wiped everything clean."

"Oh." Katie says. "Well, was that local or remote?"

"Pretty sure it’s local," Sylvie says. "This looks like tech equivalent of grabbing the film and ripping it out. Quick and dirty, but it did the job. The files are totally destroyed."

"So if you had a time for that we would know when the house was searched," Katie says.

"Looks like the last email he sent was yesterday, the hack, and likely the attack, took place during the middle of last night," Sylvie says.

Seiko walks back into the room, covered in a bit of dust and what looks like the contents of every down pillow in Australia stuck to his previously neat black clothing. He holds out a drawer. “It’s empty. It was under his bed. Not a very creative man. I see why Zhu picked him for mole. So it probably wasn’t data. Tech is mostly likely.”

Sylvie looks up at him and chokes on laughter at his appearance.

He shrugs. “What? You thought I was only willing to get my hands dirty when it came to violence?” Despite this, he attempts to subtly brush feathers off his clothing with very little success.

Sylvie nearly loses it, unsuccessfully trying to hide her fit of giggles behind her hand. She ducks back behind the screen again, but forgets to type again to make it look like she’s actually doing something.

"So we still can’t be sure if Sherman got away just in time or if they took him," Katie says. "But I don’t think he’s a priority at this time. The tech is the biggest threat to security. Whatever it was."

Eleanor smiles a bit at Sylvie’s reaction. Then she sobers. “If he left last night, he could be in the area, or on a plane out of here. Is there any way to check for his name, or credit card, to see where he’s been?”

"Could’ve been the bomb we already found,” Seiko says. “In which case it wouldn’t have been him who planted it."

"Is that timeframe right though?" Sylvie asks. "If the piece of tech was the bomb and they only took it last night, could they have gotten it in place so quickly? Also, Sherman’s PPDC brass. If he’s been taken, he’s got a lot of secrets that could be compromised, especially if he’s being tortured or some such." She grimaces at the flash drive. "And not a great track record of secret-keeping loyalty either."

The front door opens and closes quietly, and soft footsteps echo from downstairs. Miranda hesitates in the foyer of the house. This place has been absolutely trashed. Hearing voices echoing from upstairs, she heads up, cursing under her breath as a stair creaks beneath her.

She pokes her head around the corner before relaxing and walking into the room. “Don’t all jump up to greet me at once…” She trails off, arching an eyebrow as she sees Seiko. “What happened to you?”

"Mansen couldn’t find any tar," he says flatly. "And luck on the phone? We’re not finding much besides reasons to worry."

"And here I was going to say attacked one chicken and got hit with the flock in the Ocarina of Time, but that works," Sylvie says quietly, trying not to laugh again.

Miranda tries not to laugh at Seiko’s comment, but can’t resist with Mansen’s addition. She walks over to him and starts pulling feathers off him absently. “I got a bit of information. Magnets like the ones you need for plasma production are pretty heavily monitored right now. My contact said the only places you’re liable to find them are places the PPDC works with; R&D firms, weapons developers, and university labs.

"Also," Miranda continues, plucking a feather out of Seiko’s hair and twirling it between her fingers, "I was told that the specs for a Jaeger spec plasma cannon got put up on WikiLeaks a couple months back, which prompted the crackdown."

"Wonder if they leaked it to cover their trail, or are just taking advantage of it," Seiko says, pushing Miranda’s hand away and running his fingers through his hair.

"I’d guess the latter," Sylvie says. "You usually don’t give away the info on your plan before you execute it. I’d guess they got the leak and went to work using it."

"Well, either way,” Miranda says, “it’s damn near impossible to have those sorts of magnets for anything other than research or industrial purposes right now. So if we wanted to look for suspects, we could start there. And it’s also…" She pauses, trying to decide how to phrase her statement. "It’s worth noting that we do know of one person with a habit of leaking sensitive PPDC information. Who happens to be missing."

Katie frowns. “Why would Sherman leak something he could sell, though?”

Miranda shrugs. “There are ways of making deals that don’t involve money, Captain. But maybe someone paid him to leak the information, so when they built the bomb it couldn’t be easily traced back to them.”

"True enough," Katie says. "I think we can assume the tech under his bed was not the bomb. At least we ought to. Better to treat it as an unknown threat."

"Wait, tech under the bed?" Miranda asks.

Katie nods at Seiko. “He thinks whoever searched the house found something under there.”

"Do we know it was tech?" Sylvie asks.

"We can’t know it was tech, but whatever they were looking for, they stopped searching there, and the drawer was empty," Seiko says. "He gave it a lot of space, which suggests it wasn’t data. Tech was just a guess, considering."

Miranda nods. “Makes the most sense, but we don’t know enough about who took it to say for sure.” She pauses. “You said the search ended there; that means there are places the intruders didn’t check?”

"Do we know if Sherman had a storage unit anywhere?" Eleanor adds. "If he had something to hide, which we know he did, I’d guess he had at least one under an alias."

Seiko looks over the group. “I suppose we keep looking.”

"Any chance you could look into that, Mansen?" Miranda says, wandering out into the hall. Sure enough, it looks like the gym and guest room haven’t been searched at all.  _Time to fix that,_  she thinks.

"I’ll see what I can scrounge up," Sylvie says, starting to tap at the computer again.

Eleanor follows Miranda down the hall, looking for any too-new wall paint or oddly arranged furniture. She doesn’t find anything of particular interest in the gym, but in the guestroom there’s a fairly well hidden gun rack. It looks like there were, until recently, a few pistols in it.

"Hey guys?" Sylvie calls after a few moments. "I might have something! Looks like our friend had an investment in a downtown nightclub. Wanna check it out?"

"He took a few pistols with him, too," Eleanor shouts. "There’s some dust missing in the right places." She hops out of the room and down the hall as fast as she can in her dressy outfit. "Shall we go clubbing, then?"

Miranda peers in at the gun-rack as well.  _Huh._  She had completely missed that. She smiles, heading for the stairs. “Sounds like fun.”

"Well, if we are, Mansen should change." Seiko looks down at his feather covered outfit. "As should I."

"Nah, you’re good," Miranda laughs, going back to pulling feathers off of him.

"You can be the team mascot," Eleanor says, giggling.

Sylvie looks down at her outfit. Her blazer’s still in Katie’s car, but the shirt and vest seem fine. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” she demands, sounding offended.

"It’s not that the outfit’s bad, Mansen, it’s just… you wear sweater vests,” Seiko says evenly. “Let the Captain help you out."

Sylvie crosses her arms. “Sure you don’t want to do my eyeliner while she’s at it? Snipers have steady hands, don’t you? Explains how you’re able to draw yours so well.”

"Yeah, and it’s fucking gorgeous," Miranda blurts out.

Eleanor tilts her head to one side, and nods. “It’s true,” she says, shrugging.

Seiko turns to Miranda. “Ms. Cross, I’m trying to find an insult in her statement, and I’m really not following. Learning how to do wingtips this well took a lot longer than learning to snipe.”

"She’s being stupid, Seiko. Don’t worry about it." Miranda face is a bit red.

Sylvie glares at him, then at the group. With a huff, she stalks toward the stairs, shoving Seiko with her shoulder as she passes. “Shut up. Let’s just go. I do not need fashion advice from  _any_  of you. I’m not trying to pick up a date at this club or anything. We’re on the job.”

Eleanor grins at her as she passes. “Oh, we know you have someone in mind, don’t worry. This is just a reconnaissance thing,” she says lightly.

"I couldn’t hear you over how  _'on the job'_  I am, Eleanor!” Sylvie shouts up the stairs. The sound of the front door slamming behind her is heard right afterward.

Katie chases after Sylvie, giving the others a murderous  _'I expected better of you'_  look. Eleanor laughs aloud, and follows. She flips her newly-long hair on the way out.

"Sorry, Captain. I was really just teasing," Seiko says. "I’ve got no problem with Mansen’s style. Nerd chic is cute."

Miranda rolls her eyes. “Girl should learn to take a joke,” she mutters to herself, following behind the rest of the group.

"So meet up again downtown?" Seiko suggests.

Eleanor says nothing, but trails behind Miranda and Seiko. They’re less likely to throw her out of the car at this point, and her transportation is miles and miles away.

"Sorry, in advance, for filling your car with feathers, Ms. Cross."

Miranda smiles. “It’s fine; I’ve found weirder stuff in there.”

"That’s why they invented lint rollers," Eleanor pipes up.

In the other car, Sylvie sits somewhat sullenly in Katie’s passenger seat. Eleanor, Seiko, and Miranda took the other car, with plans to rendezvous at the nightclub. The programmer has shrugged her blazer back on and is now staring out the window with her arms crossed, not saying anything.

"I guess I need to have a talk with them, don’t I?" Katie says, sliding into the driver’s seat.

"It’s fine," Sylvie says, in a tone that clearly states otherwise. "Let them have their fun."

"Seiko’s probably right about one thing, though," Katie says. "Adorable as that outfit is, the whole nerd girl/office style look is going to attract the kind of attention we don’t want. Specifically, the kind that asks what you are doing at a club since you clearly aren’t clubbing."

"Fine, whatever," Sylvie says. "I don’t know how to talk to people, I don’t know how to dress. Let’s go dress me up for clubbing then."

**Scene 5**

((SCENE REDACTED, TO BE ADDED AT A LATER DATE))

**Scene 6**

At the nightclub, Seiko steps out of the car, in a black dress that covers all of his upper body and almost none of his legs, though his tights are thick enough to hide the scars. He’s also added a bit of sparkly black eye shadow and his lips are much redder

Miranda joins him in a pair of black slacks, a low-cut white top, and a black blazer. The cut of the shirt makes her exoskeleton look like a necklace rather than a piece of machinery.

From across the parking lot, Sylvie walks up in a clatter of heels, tugging at the hemline of the dress Katie loaned her, a dark scowl on her face. The expression goes even darker as she sees Miranda. “Oh, so  _she_  can wear a blazer, but I’m supposed to change.”

Eleanor tugs at her hemline as well, hiking it up instead of down. Her tights are sheerer than Seiko’s, so despite her plain all-black ensemble she hopes she’ll fit in. The lipstick she discreetly borrowed from Miranda and Seiko’s apartment is a deep purple this time. She steps over to Sylvie and leans down a bit. “You look nice,” she says softly. “Dress clothes and professional wear suit you equally well.”

"Let’s tear this place up," Katie says. She’s wearing a plaid shirt under a motorcycle jacket that matches her black leather pants, cowgirl boots, and big sunglasses with bright red lipstick.

Seiko nods to her. “Captain you look very… American…”

"You look very Japanese!" Katie shoots back, smiling.

Eleanor runs a hand over her short-cropped hair. “Should we pretend to be dates, then, Captain?” she teases Katie, bumping shoulders with her.

Katie shrugs. “If you want?”

"Nah, I’m just kidding," Eleanor says, "but it would be a good ruse to snap a few pictures, maybe, to show a certain someone when we get home?" She bats her mascara’d eyelashes.

Katie blushes visibly even through her makeup.

Sylvie taps her foot, looking markedly uncomfortable. “Can we just get this done, guys? We kind of have an important missing person to track down?”

"She’s right," Katie says. "Alright, Syl, tell us what is goin’ on here."

"There were quite a few correspondences between Sherman and this… establishment. I believe he was some kind of investor. Perhaps they know where he’s gone?" Sylvie says, glancing at the building nervously. She’s still not used to being out in public like this after her incident, and especially not in an outfit such as the one she’s wearing.

"Yeah, but if we walk in there looking like we’re working, people’ll be suspicious. At least try to look like you’re having fun, dear," Miranda says, grabbing Seiko with one arm and Eleanor with the other.

Eleanor gives an exaggerated hiccup. “Yes, ma’am!” she says to Miranda, then turns to Sylvie. “Let’s see if we can tell who runs this place, hm? Find the boss man! Make him give us free drinks ‘cuz we’re pretty!” She sways a little for effect.

"Should we call Zhu?" Sylvie asks. "Keep her informed on what we’ve found?"

"You want to let her know?" Katie says.

"Makes sense,” Miranda says. “She can look into things while we’re investigating. Might even have more info for us when we’re done."

"Might be a good idea to keep her posted on where we are, in case we need backup." Eleanor’s voice is back to a more reasonable pitch.

"This is her job, and her second-in-command. She ought to know what he’s up to," Sylvie says.

"If we get attacked in a shady night club I’m quitting," Seiko says.

"Anywhere else is fine, but a nightclub is your Kryptonite?" Eleanor asks wryly.

He frowns. “It’s just… cliché.”

"Only the shady ones," Miranda quips. "Antique shops, but only if they’re classy."

Eleanor throws back her head and guffaws. “I think that ‘classy’ may be overstating the case here,” she says when she can breathe again.

"Aw, it’ll be fun!" Katie says. "Sylvie, you should go ahead and call the Marshall. We’ll focus on scouting the place out."

Sylvie debates for a moment whether she’d rather stay with the group who seems to be treating like a  joke what is, to her, a nightmarish situation, or talk to Marshall Zhu. After less than a minute, she nods, then takes out her phone and walks off, already dialing.

Zhu answers quickly. “Mansen? Any news?”

Sylvie takes a deep breath, speaking quickly and matter-of-factly. “We searched the house and found a flash drive with some sensitive information, PPDC personnel files mostly. There’s also an under-the-bed trunk that seems to have been forcibly searched and whatever its contents were have been removed. His security feeds were wiped, looks like last night, when the attack took place.

"I also snooped through his email: he was skittish about someone being after him, thinking of fleeing the country it looks like, though I think they got to him before he could. We found communication with a nightclub here in downtown Sydney, seems he might be an investor here. We’re outside now, about to go in and see if they know anything about him."

Zhu considers this new information for a moment. “So he might have fled, and he might be kidnapped? Hmm. Well, that’s definitely more than I knew this morning. Thank you. Keep me posted.” She pauses. “Wait, one more thing. I got the forensic result from the bomb. Apparently it’s not a conventional explosive, but they don’t know what it is.”

"What do you mean?" Sylvie asks, sounding nervous. "I think Miranda said something about it was a plasma weapon, the kind that would need very high tech magnets? There was apparently a WikiLeak with PPDC specs for a plasma canon that got out a while ago, though I think you already know about that probably."

Zhu goes quiet. “Who identified that it was a plasma weapon?”

Sylvie hesitates. “Um, all I heard was ‘a new contact.’ Av- something? Used enby pronouns though, xe/xer I think. I think it was one of the J-Techs.”

"J-tech Doyle,” Zhu says. “The one who discovered the bomb. Well, xe would know. The question is, why didn’t the forensics people?"

"Not sure," Sylvie says carefully. "Do you want us to check out this nightclub lead, or do you want us to follow up something else?"

"If anyone could have spoofed forensics, it’s probably Sherman. Keep following this one up. I’ll run a conference call afterwards."

"Will do," Sylvie says. "We’ll keep in touch, Marshall."

"Thanks again. Zhu out."

Eleanor shuffles over. “Any problems?” she asks.

Sylvie looks up to see Eleanor, then puts her phone back in her purse. “Apparently forensics couldn’t ID the type of bomb, which Zhu thinks is strange. She thinks Sherman might be hiding things still, but wants us to follow this up.” After a moment she glances down at her feet, not making eye contact. “There isn’t… El, you don’t think there’s anything wrong with the way I dress, right?”

"There’s value in learning to wear different disguises," Eleanor says. "There’s nothing wrong with your choices in your personal time, not at all."

"Thanks, I guess," Sylvie mumbles, starting to head for the door. "Let’s go, we’ve got a job to do. The sooner we get to the bottom of this, the better."

**Scene 7**

Seiko follows Miranda and Katie into the club while Sylvie makes the call. Once they’re inside, Miranda subtly pulls him towards the dance floor.

"We are working, Ms. Cross," he says, pulling his arm away a little too sharply.

Miranda’s smile fades for a fraction of a second, but she recovers quickly. “Right, sorry. Just thought it’d be a good place to overhear conversations.” She turns and heads into the crowd of dancers, listening for any mention of her target. She doesn’t hear anything useful, but she lingers anyway, taking a moment for herself.

Seiko snoops around, looking at the money in the club and if it could be a front for anything, any patrons who don’t look right. In general, what business a man like Sherman would have in a place like this. He flips on his comm. “Bouncers in front of the office. Something more than a club’s being run here.”

After buying a round of drinks, Katie is chatting up the bartender. She doesn’t seem to know anything, but it gives Katie something to do without looking suspicious. It doesn’t hurt that she’s cute.

As she enters the club, Sylvie walks over to Seiko, trying to look casual.  _Look at all the people I’m talking to today that I hate talking to_ , she thinks. “We need to talk to the management. See if they know anything about their investor’s whereabouts. We know he has some scary people after him. How do you feel about pretending to be one? I figure you can pull off ‘underworld thug looking for someone to punish for important bosses’ for some reason.”

Eleanor sidles up to the bar, orders a drink, and leans on one faraway corner. “Not surprising. Keep an eye on the bouncer,” she whispers, covering her mouth with her glass.

"I can try and lure out the bouncers,” Seiko says. “Take them on a bit of a jog."

"Wait, who’s going to threaten Management then?" Sylvie asks. "I mean, I could try…"

Eleanor grabs her martini glass and meanders over to Sylvie. “Let’s see if we can find the boss, eh?”

Miranda can barely hear her comm over the sound of the music, and the people moving around her are starting to get a bit… cramped. She throws a couple glances towards the group at the bar, hoping one of them will spot her.

Seiko comes to her rescue. He dives back into the crowd and stumbles over to Miranda a little drunkenly. “C’mon Chellllll, let’s go,” he says, grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the crowd.

Miranda sighs gratefully, dropping onto a barstool and spinning a bit.

"This is why I said no dancing," he mutters in Miranda’s ear.

"I know. I got it." Miranda nods quickly. "…Thanks." She looks over at Eleanor and Sylvie. "Any way I could help?"

"We need to get past the guards,” Seiko says. “So what’s the plan? Knock them out? Talk our way in?"

"Keep an eye on things?" Eleanor says. Throwing an arm around Sylvie’s shoulders, Eleanor weaves them through the crowd toward the back of the club, where she assumes the main office is located. Her drink splashes over the side of her glass as they walk.

Sylvie tries not to fight being dragged toward the back. She was  _going_  to offer to take the door guard out, and she still keeps the plan in mind, but lets Eleanor do her thing first.

The bouncer by the door nods. “Ladies.”

Eleanor grins in a drunkenly seductive way. “Why hellooo,” she says to the bouncer. “We’re lookin’ for the boss man!” She giggles and winks. “Can we get an appointment?”

"Off limits. Sorry."

Eleanor lets go of Sylvie. “Awww, why?” she whines pathetically.

The bouncer shrugs. “Cuz the boss said so.”

Eleanor pouts. “Okay, fiiine.” She drags her feet as she re-enters the crowd, and once out of sight, she beelines over to the bar.

Miranda leans her elbows up on the bar. Between the lights, noise, and her own wandering thoughts, she doesn’t make for a particularly good lookout.

Seiko walks towards his captain as another bouncer taps Katie on the shoulder. Katie glances up to see who it is.

The man nods to her. “The owner of this establishment has a proposition for you, ma’am.”

"Let’s hear it," Katie says.

"The owner would rather speak to you and your entourage in person, if it suits."

"Impressive," Katie says. "Sure, I’ll bite. Where do we go?"

Seiko tries to stick near Katie. This is a situation where, barring immediate danger, his loyalty to the captain comes first.

Sylvie lets Eleanor go, noticing Katie being spoken to at the bar. “Seems your friend has business over there with mine,” she says to the man, not even pretending to be drunk.

He seems disinterested. “They can handle it then.”

Eleanor edges up a few feet behind Katie’s bouncer and leans backward against the bar.

"Follow me." The bouncer leads them past the other bouncer after exchanging a few words, into the back offices. Sylvie smirks at the man she’d been speaking to as Katie waves her in with the rest of the group, looking rather satisfied. Deciding to be mature, Eleanor sticks her tongue out cheekily as she waltzes past the door bouncer.

The door bouncer chuckles.

With a sigh of relief, Miranda slips past the guard and into the quieter, less crowded back rooms of the club, finally able to hear her thoughts again. She does, however, feel a bit exposed with the absence of a crowd, and buttons up her blazer to cover her exoskeleton.

The bouncer leads them into an opulent back office, decorated in an Art Deco style. A woman with long blonde hair and a catlike smile enters from another door and sits down behind the desk.

Eyes narrowing, Eleanor leaves her drink on a side table and moves to stand just behind Katie. Seiko, meanwhile, steps to the front of the group, holding his back so he could quickly draw a weapon

"Well, well," the woman says. Her words are tinged with a Russian accent. "It’s not every day that a Horner walks into my little nightclub."

"Are you implying I’m not the first?" Katie says. She smirks. "Goodness, someone must be looking for me."

The woman laughs. “We’re not that ritzy of an establishment, Ms. Horner. Hence my shock.” She leans back in her chair. “Valentina Yegorov. Pleased to meet you.”

 


	3. Session #26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherman has been found to have ties to a particular downtown nightclub, and the team has gone to check it out, but why does the owner’s name sound so familiar…?

**Scene 1**

"Yegorov?" Sylvie says the name almost as a hiss, glaring. "You wouldn’t happen to be related to a Dmitry, would you?"

Miranda tenses a bit, stepping slightly in front of Eleanor.

"Mansen," Seiko mutters. "Perhaps this isn’t…"

Valentina’s smile freezes. “You’ve met my brother, then.”

"That’s a pleasant-sounding way of putting it," Sylvie says flatly.

Eleanor glares, but doesn’t move from behind Miranda. “You could say that,” she answers diplomatically. No point in starting a fight that she can’t win.

"Some of us have, apparently,” Seiko says, “though I’m sure it’s not relevant, as she wasn’t aware of it."

Miranda looks toward the woman. “Well then, Ms… Yegorov. Care to tell us why we’re here?”

"Ms. Horner came into my club and started buying drinks for people,” Valentina says smoothly. “I just wanted to offer… special arrangements, if she should happen to desire something of the sort."

Frowning, Eleanor looks to Katie. Maybe she has more of an idea of what’s going on here. And if she doesn’t…well, there’s only one exit at the moment, and it’s apparently guarded by two hulking brutes in black tee-shirts.  _Great._

"What kind of arrangements did you have in mind?" Katie asks.

Valentina smiles. “VIP clientele have access to… special deals, let’s say, on merchandise that moves through my domain. Given your reputation, I thought you might be interested.”

Seiko turns to Katie and says, as quietly as he can, “Sherman.”

"Hmm," Katie says. "I  _might_  be interested. What kind of merchandise are we talking about here? Just in general.”

"Technology that’s unavailable through regular channels, for the most part. Although I occasionally get more exotic things." Valentina pulls a small lacquered case out of her desk and opens it up. There, on velvet, is an eight inch long hollow chitinous object.

Sylvie stops glaring daggers at the woman for the five seconds it takes to look interested in that statement. “…Tech?”

Eleanor squints at the thing. It looks vaguely insectoid, which means…

"That real Karloff," Seiko says, with fake awe.

Miranda’s eyes widen for a fraction of a second, letting out a barely audible growl. Sylvie sniffs distastefully. She’s never understood the fascination with Kaiju remains.

"That is impressive," Katie says. "I don’t supposed you’ll tell me how you got it?"

"Who cares," Seiko mutters, reaching out a hand like he’s barely resisting touching it. Eleanor clears her throat.

"I’m afraid not," Valentina says, snapping the case closed. "I have more from that distributor, however. And I may let you in on my supply chain if you prove yourself a good customer."

The case snapping shut returns Miranda to her senses. “…What about this tech you mentioned? Anything good there?”

Sylvie nods quickly. “Yeah, let’s talk tech.”

As the others talk, Eleanor just hopes that the sound of her teeth grinding together isn’t  _too_  audible.  _I don’t have a sound recorder or a gun,_ Eleanor thinks morosely.  _I really need to learn to be more prepared._

Valentina shrugs. “What are you after? …or are you looking to sell?”

For half a second, Sylvie is tempted to offer her programming services as payment, then she thinks of what Zhu’s reaction to that might be. “Just curious what you might have.” She glances at Miranda. “Typical girls, interested in shiny things. Preferably the kind that go beep.”

Miranda subvokes to fiVe as Sylvie talks, careful not to move her lips as she does so. “So on a scale from one to ten, how on board would you be with me hiding and selling you to get you into a system?”

Sequestered on her distant servers, fiVe wakes up at the sudden message that comes across the air, then feels a mischievous streak. “Going undercover?” she sends to Miranda’s comm. “I could be interested. What kind of system?”

"Black market database,” Miranda subvokes. “Apparently deals in tech and off-world sushi. I’d probably attach you to some tech blueprints, and once you’re in you’d be able to get into all their data. Maybe find some stuff about our missing person as well. I assume you can handle avoiding detection in a situation like that?"

fiVe thinks on that for a moment. “Avoiding detection…depends on their systems. Sure we don’t want to play this with me center stage? If you’re selling tech, I’m a fairly impressive specimen.”

"They’re less likely to be suspicious if they don’t know you’re sentient,” Miranda says. “I could bill you as a VI, I suppose."

"Artificial drift partner would work. I can play the dumb automatic,” fiVe sends back. “I mean, I practically did it for years with Sylvie. Are you overtly attached to the phone you’re carrying or do you mind if I wipe it an install a remote access point for me to use for quick delivery?" She hesitates for a moment. "Don’t… don’t leave me in there. I can do this but… Don’t abandon me."

"Go for it,” Miranda says silently. “And of course not. I won’t leave you behind. I promise."

"I mean, you got Mansen out of a cult, so I figure you’ll help me. Upload complete. Let’s do this."

Miranda steps forward, speaking aloud now. “I have some tech you might be interested in, if you’re able to make it worth my while.”

Sylvie frowns, wondering if Miranda’s got some Jaeger piece she’s selling.  _Is she expecting us not to tell Zhu about this?_

Valentina raises an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”

"I happen to have blueprints for several interesting models of weaponry, but since you seem to be interested in ‘exotic’ merchandise…" Miranda holds up her phone. "How about a weapons targeting VI designed to improve accuracy, response time, and efficiency?"

Seiko shoots a sharp look at Sylvie.

Sylvie’s eyes go wide and she nearly hisses at Miranda. “Don’t you dare… That is  _not_  yours to sell! How  _dare_  you!”

"You know who has the right to that tech," Seiko says sharply, "And if she’s in, the rest of us sit back."

Shocked, Eleanor puts a hand on Miranda’s shoulder. Not to hold her back, not even metaphorically, but just to stabilize herself. “Are…you’re sure?”

Miranda shoots a look at Sylvie. “Excuse me? I designed this program, and it’s housed on my servers. I have every right to sell it.”

"You  _designed_  it?” Sylvie asks indignantly. “Stole it more like! That piece is my heart and soul and I refuse to let you sell a copy!”

Valentina watches the proceedings with mounting interest, looking especially engaged with Sylvie’s protestations.

Miranda holds up the phone. “Vida. State program design specifications.”

fiVe’s voice comes through the small speakers, sounding rather more monotone than usual. “Designation: Weapons and targeting operation. Specialty: Jaeger systems.”

Sylvie’s expression goes dangerously dark as the AI speaks, realizing that fiVe’s in on the con. She fumes, but stays silent. The last thing she wants is Valentina figuring out is that fiVe actually is a sentient AI. She can ‘talk’ with Miranda about this plan once they’re out of it.

Eleanor eyes the female Yegorov, trying to gauge her reaction. She takes a step backward from the group at large.

Miranda smiles, turning to Valentina. “Well?”

Valentina nods. “Very, very interesting, Ms…?”

"Swift," Miranda says. "Maria Swift."

"Ms. Swift. Now, anyone could make a cell phone talk to me. But Ms. Horner’s reputation precedes her, and I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt." Valentina writes something on the back of a business card. "I trust you would be available for a demonstration the day after tomorrow?"

"Absolutely," Miranda smiles, taking the card. "Of course, if all you wanted was a demonstration, I’d be more than happy to give you a preview tonight."

"Ah, my buyers expect a certain compatibility with their own hardware, and I would need to get in touch with them." Valentina shrugs. "If you have something to show me, though…"

"This program is equipped to interface with any electronically controlled weaponry," fiVe offers, the words sounding even and blank.

"Couldn’t have said it better myself," Miranda says, looking proudly at the phone. "Vida, scan for compatible weapons in the vicinity?"

"Compatible hardware, designation: autogun model. Permission to access?" fiVe says after a quick scan picks up the turret-like weapon mounted on the wall.

Katie raises an eyebrow at that. Seiko looks at the gun with some real awe on his face now.

Miranda glances over at the gun. “Initiate remote access protocol. Utilize indicator light, do not fire.”

Sylvie steps forward, glaring at Miranda and the phone. “Mir…ia. I will  _not_  allow this. Shut that program down,  _now_.”

"We can discuss pay later, Anna," Seiko says, slipping in beside her. "Can’t you see this is what we’ve been waiting for?"

Miranda glances at the weapon as the indicator light blinks on and the machinery whirs to life.  ”Lock on target: Anna. Aim .2 degrees right of subject’s head.”

fiVe complies all too eagerly, spinning the turret and locking on Sylvie’s position immediately. Sylvie’s hands snap into the air at the threatening motion and she looks at Miranda with a look of absolute hatred.

Then, suddenly a cold smile creeps across Sylvie’s face and she glances at Seiko. “Fine, how about a taste of your own medicine? See how well your tech works after this:  _8yU4n37t!_ ”

There’s a sad sound of a dying hum as the override code makes fiVe go dark, Miranda’s phone now completely dead.

Sylvie starts to put her hands down, looking satisfied. “My tech. My codes. Don’t you  _ever_  threate— “

She cuts off as Seiko turns toward her and throws a punch as hard as he can. She ducks instinctively, catching his wrist and tossing him back with a sharp strike of her palm to his chest, not enough to do damage, but forcefully enough to get him away from her. Then, she twists as Katie suddenly attacks her from the other side. Tensed with adrenaline, she stops the captain’s attack quickly, restraining her instead of fighting back.

Miranda stays perfectly still, doing her best to keep her face impassive as the team starts taking swings at each other again. Eleanor tries not to hyperventilate. This situation was already way out of hand, but now everyone has gone completely insane and she’s not sure what she can do about it.

Valentina presses a button on her desk. The turret whirs to life and points directly at Sylvie again.

Seiko picks himself up off the floor and subtly shifts himself in front of the turret. “Please don’t worry too much,” he says to Valentina. “She’d drunk for clubbing, not business.”

Breathing heavily, Sylvie freezes, giving Katie a long look. “I do  _not_  want to fight you. Or him.” She glances at Valentina, still holding Katie’s arms. “Or you. But I don’t take well to threats or outright attacks, especially not using  _my_  tech. Katie, you’re my boss. I do  _not_  want to hurt you. Drop it, now.”

Miranda holds up a hand towards Valentina, but the woman ignores her, speaking harshly. “You have five seconds to get yourselves, and your shitty backdoor-ridden software, out of my  _fucking_  nightclub.”

"Everybody  _out_ ,” hisses Eleanor, tugging on Miranda’s sleeve. “Shoulda known she’d be as bad as her brother. But I never thought I’d see the day when our own crew was this bad.”

Miranda raises an eyebrow, shaking off Eleanor’s hand. “Usually clients find the idea of a kill-switch to make sure their weapons aren’t used on them appealing, but fine.” She walks away without looking back.

Sylvie drops Katie’s hands, scowling. “Fine. Good luck getting more Kaiju bits with Sherman gone. Have a nice day, Ms. Yegorov.” She turns toward the door, stalking out. Katie follows her two crewmembers out, shooting a look at Eleanor and Seiko.

One of Eleanor’s eyes starts twitching, but as she turns to leave she pauses, glancing back. Seiko allows himself to look blandly interested, but doesn’t seem too hurried to leave.

"Apparently you don’t see the gun?" Valentina says to Seiko.

Eleanor sidles up to Seiko, crossing her arms to hide the fact that they’re shaking. Whatever plan he’s still trying to pull off, he shouldn’t do it alone.

Seiko seems unfazed by the threat. “I also see somebody who has the contacts to make it worth getting shot to do business with. Make me work with her another day and I’ll tell it to fire myself.”

"If guns were as big of a threat as you seem to think, we’d never have come here in the first place," says Eleanor darkly. She’s proud of the fact that her voice is strong and not too wavery. Despite her bold tone, her eyes flick nervously to the turret sticking out of the wall.

Valentina’s eyes narrow. “You’ve bought yourself two minutes. Talk.”

"Maria and Anna…” Seiko says evenly, “they don’t have the slightest idea what they’re doing here, can’t work with teams, but they know tech. And we know them. That targeting system that was Maria trying to bluff her way in, badly. If you wanna see the real product… I value my friendship with Maria. Would even throw a stupid punch to protect her, but… there are a few things better than a friend, even a well-connected one, and I get the impression you have that."

Eleanor is silent, merely watching. Yegorov the Prettier seems perturbed, likely due to Sylvie’s rash behavior. Eleanor tilts her head to the side thoughtfully. Her fear has vanished now that she’s immersed in the con…and now that she doesn’t have to worry about the others being hurt. “You seem to be a woman who appreciates having…business contacts. With the children out of the room, I hope we can talk more civilly.”

Valentina frowns. “Your initial prototype did not impress me.”

Seiko smiles wide. “That’s because it’s wasn’t a targeting system.”

Eleanor desperately wants to turn to Seiko, to see if she can read anything of his intent on his face. But she doesn’t. Instead, she scoffs lightly. “Surely you didn’t think we’d play our ace card so early, darling.”

"Oh please,” he says. “It’s hardly an ace."

"Well, true,” Eleanor agrees. “’Joker’ might be more applicable."

"Enough chitchat,” Valentina says. “What do you have?"

"There was no system,” Seiko says. “Just a third tech trying to play you. A third tech. A good one. She’s the only thing that keeps Anna and Maria working together. Unfortunately, she also gives both of them her shutdown codes.”

He smiles slightly as he continues. “What you saw was them trying to get your money for fake tech, but there’s real tech. Good tech. Tech that hacked your weapon’s system from blocks away through a phone. And what my friend and I can offer you is that tech without a bunch of nervous programmers who leave in backdoors for their friends. She wouldn’t deal with you though. She just wanted to cheat you. I’d have to… use a slightly different sort of backdoor method.”

Valentina’s mouth quirks. “You walked into my nightclub, with an heiress as smokescreen, to con me into buying fake tech? I don’t know whether to shoot you or kiss you on the mouth.”

Eleanor smiles. “I know the feeling,” she says, with a commiserating eye-roll.

Seiko shrugs. “Well, Horner pays… very well. Why do you think I work with idiots like that?”

"Heiresses aren’t generally known for their people skills," Eleanor adds. "You may have noticed. But their pockets tend to be nice and deep."

"Hm. My buyer is still available. Two days. This address." Valentina hands Eleanor another business card. "Don’t disappoint me."

Seiko smiles. “Thank you for being so understanding. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Eleanor tucks the card into her dress’s hidden pocket. “We’ll be in contact,” she says, nodding, then turns away and calmly walks out.

"Thank you for not shooting us,” Seiko says. “We won’t make you regret it"

Valentina nods to the bouncers, who escort Seiko and Eleanor out.

**Scene 2**

As soon as they’re out of the nightclub, Miranda spins and slams Sylvie into the wall, pinning her. “Dammit, Mansen. What the  _fuck_ was that?”

Sylvie shoves her back. “You had V2 aim a damn turret at my head and thought I was just gonna stand there and take it? Oh, I see how it is. Seiko can use the override to shut Vee down while she’s  _in my head,_ but _God forbid_ I try to defend myself!”

"No,” Miranda says, “Seiko was able to use the override code because firing on the PPDC would have gotten us all killed. You, on the other hand, used it in the _middle of a con!_  Do you  _honestly_  think I would shoot you? In the middle of a job, with so much at stake?”

Sylvie gives her a level look. “And I’m supposed to know that fiVe  _wouldn’t_? If she really loathes me as much as you all seem to say she does, seems she might take her chance to rid herself of what she perceives as a danger!”

"Yes,” Miranda says. “You  _are_  supposed to know that. Because we are on a team, and even if I’m feeling the tiniest bit of regret for pulling your ass out of the fire  _four_  times now, I am not going to do anything that will get you killed, because I take care of my team. As does Seiko, and as does fiVe. fiVe would not do anything to put Seiko or me at risk, because she cares about us.”

"Enough of this," Katie says, stepping between them. "I am  _this_  close to firing both of you right now.”

Sylvie turns toward her, looking almost hurt. “And what about you, Katie? You and Seiko both, attacking me in there? I  _could_  have taken you out and you know it. But I didn’t. I held back. Seems I get attacked or threatened by members of this team time and again and then get shit on for not putting up with it!”

Miranda looks over at Katie, silently asking permission to respond. Katie shakes her head. Miranda closes her eyes and sighs, saying nothing. When she opens them again, her face is blank.

"Syl, you are entirely within your rights to defend yourself. But you did violate a direct order regarding fiVe, and despite the extenuating circumstances," she glares at Miranda, "I can’t see my way clear to retaining you on my crew. I wish I could…" She gives Sylvie a pleading look.

Sylvie blinks in disbelief. “You… Because of the code? Because I used a tool that I designed for its specified purpose: in case one of my AIs ever went rogue, stopped obeying, and threatened me? A code that she  _consented_  to having at one point? She threatened my life, I disabled her. I could have used that code at any time, but I  _didn’t_ , because you all ordered me not to, said I needed to respect her. I did so, until she pointed a gun at me. At that point, yeah, I’ll shut her down.”

Sylvie shakes her head. “Fine then. You don’t want me, then fine. I’ll leave.” Then she gives them both an even look. “Are you expecting me to re-enable fiVe after this though?”

Miranda looks at Katie again, her voice tensely controlled. “Permission to speak, ma’am?”

"Granted." Katie says. She had not realized Sylvie was going to need to do anything to re-enable fiVe after this. "But I am holding your recklessness partly responsible for this. Don’t make it worse."

Miranda sighs lightly. “Of course.” She turns back to Sylvie. “Look, I… I’ve been trying  _really_  hard to make this work, because I… you’re… in a way, you’re pretty close to…  _family_.” She says the word with a mix of confusion and pride. “fiVe is like a… daughter or a sister to me, and you’re an important part of her life. I honestly do want you two to get along, to trust each other. And I… guess I tried to force that a bit early. Tried to prove to you that fiVe can be trusted like I know she can be. And for that I apologize, I really do.

“But I don’t know what else to do,” Miranda continues, “I’ve tried being nice, being professional, being cold, being open… for fuck’s sake, I’ll Drift with you if that’s what it takes, but… I want you to trust me, and trust that I really do want what’s best for both of you.”

Sylvie stays silent for a long time. Finally she shakes her head sadly. “I just… it wasn’t even that it was fiVe… It was  _my_  code. My life’s work. You tried to put her in the hands of a woman we’d just met, that scum-sucking Yegorov’s damn sister and… just thought I’d be okay with it? I… fiVe’s made her choice. Fine. She doesn’t want to be me. I don’t even blame her anymore;  _I_  don’t want to be me. But I wasn’t ready for that. And then in the middle of me panicking, you and she swung a gun at my head and I couldn’t take it.”

Miranda looks down. “I’m sorry.”

As Eleanor and Seiko exit the building, Eleanor throws a wink at the bouncer she’d encountered earlier. It never hurt to avoid making enemies during a job. She refuses to make eye contact with anyone on the “team” though, on the grounds that her sanity is at stake. Her smile is brittle, but present. That’s the best she can do at the moment.

Seiko walks out just behind her, seeing the group standing outside the door. “It’ll be alright. Let’s just go. Sorry for punching you Mansen. I wasn’t trying to hurt you, just save the con. Trying to punch you. I missed.”

Sylvie doesn’t even look at him. “Just shut the hell up, Seiko,” she says quietly.

Katie sighs. “Look, I don’t want to fire you. It was perfectly reasonable for you to panic. But we are all going to have to get on the same page here.”

Eleanor’s smile suddenly disappears. “No shit,” she says flatly. “But can we do this somewhere else?”

Miranda nods, her face solemn. “Maybe we can head to the Tranquility?”

"Yes," Katie says. "Let’s do that."

**Scene 3**

As soon as they get back to Tranquility, Sylvie heads to her “room” and changes into her own clothes again, almost savoring how ‘her’ they feel. Then, gritting her teeth and trying not to start crying, she composes herself and heads back up to the meeting room.

On the way, she subvokes to Vee, outlining the plan. They’ve got one chance to pull this off, and she thinks they might be able to do it. She doesn’t make eye contact as she enters the room, silently slipping into the nearest chair and resting her head on her hands on the table.

Inside, Eleanor sits down with her head in one hand. She can feel a migraine coming on. Her boots sit beside her on the floor, but she didn’t have the energy to change clothes yet. Miranda also sits in silence, seemingly lost in thought. She’s barely said a word since leaving the nightclub. Seiko has his eyes closed and looks very peaceful and still. He’s left his weaponry bag at the edge of the room.

"I did not know that little rat had a sister," Eleanor mutters, half-apologetic and half-irritated.

"I like her," Seiko says.

"Of course you do. Who wouldn’t, with that face?" Eleanor groans. "And that arsenal, too."  _It would be so much easier if the woman had been horrible to us. But she’d actually been reasonable! Oh, God, why._

"So let’s put out what we’re all thinking," Seiko says. "What was Sherman buying or selling?"

"I don’t think we have a plank for me to walk…" Sylvie mumbles into her hands. Then she hears the last half of that statement. "Oh right. Sherman."

Miranda rolls her head back and stares at the ceiling, not sure whether she’s suppressing a laugh or a groan.

"I think the first order of business is getting fiVe back online," Katie says.

"It’ll be another half-hour or so before we can boot her again, I think," she says, looking to Sylvie for confirmation.

Sylvie pauses a moment before answering, still looking down.  _This had better work…_  “Half hour-ish,” She lies. In truth, the lock-out period ended a little while ago, but she has a feeling this conversation would go more smoothly if the others didn’t know that.

Eleanor curses under her breath. She’s too ashamed to admit she’d nearly forgotten about their AI teammate.

"Will there be any lasting damage?" Katie asks.

"She’ll be alright,” Seiko says. “fiVe’s tough as nails."

“No damage.” Sylvie looks up finally. “Aside from the crippling amount she’s already dealing with, that is.”

Miranda nods slowly. “Aside from that,” she quietly repeats.

"Good," Katie says, relieved.

Sylvie’s eyes flick between the members of the crew. “… _if_  I bring her back.”

Seiko gives her a long look. “If you don’t kill her, yes.”

"That’d better not be a big ‘if,’" Eleanor says, looking up.

"And what will that take?" Katie asks.

Sylvie nods, trying to sound reasonable. “I’d like to make certain that I’m not in a situation where I would need to use it again. If I’m not allowed to touch fiVe, then she’s not allowed to touch me. Had I threatened her, you all would have had no problem with her retaliating. I want the same protection. Also, this whole ‘attacking me when people get upset’ thing needs to stop.”

Her voice goes quiet, and she looks down. “The first time I got attacked out of the blue, the guy who did it ended up dead because I just  _reacted_. I… I’m terrified that might happen again if I’m not careful. Look, I’m trying really hard to behave over here, but it’s a little difficult when everyone keeps throwing punches.”

"Yeah, what was all that?" asks Eleanor. "We are ostensibly adults, here, but we get into bar fights at the drop of a hat?" She shakes her head reprovingly.

"She was ruining the con,” Seiko says. “I figured acting like she was a traitor was our best chance at salvaging it. And Ms. Cartier and I were much closer to getting shot than Mansen was. "

Sylvie looks at Seiko levelly. “You know that for sure? You’d let Wulagu point a turret at your head just because you’re on the same team?”

Seiko goes a bit cold. “Yes. I would. I’m not sure if you’re comparing fiVe or Miranda to a woman who would…” he trails off, then seems to regain himself. “You think getting shot is the worse than fucking up a con in front of somebody like that? You know what could have happened? I’m not angry, Mansen. I understand this is new to you, but I want you to understand what your actions could have cost all of us.”

Sylvie frowns at him, her tone going short. “Then let’s maybe not have the newbie re-enacting William Tell next time, huh? Especially without warning.  _You_ can take the bullet to the face next time.”

"That wasn’t my decision,” he says, “but I made it through worse when I was newer. And younger. At the moment, I’m more concerned about our friend Avery."

At the mention of Avery, Eleanor groans and drops her head back into her hands. She’ll never forgive herself if she’s put xem in danger.

"I’m sorry, Syl," Katie says. "I saw that override as an attack on a crew member and didn’t think things through."

Miranda leans forward. “And again, I’m sorry as well. You just… in underworld dealings, by challenging authority, you set yourself up as the obvious target. It would have shown that the tech worked  _and_  that I was capable of keeping my people in line in one move.” She sighs. “Clearly that isn’t the case, though.”

"It was incredibly reckless," Katie says. "Your previous record for keeping Sylvie ‘in line’ is abysmal."

"Aim at me next time, Ms. Cross," Seiko says.

Miranda’s breath catches a bit, although it’s unclear whether it’s in response to Katie or Seiko. “…Hopefully there won’t be a next time,” she says finally. “And I… I’m trying, I really am. Damn it all.”

Sylvie sighs. “I am too. I  _really_  don’t want to go to prison. And… we’ve been through a lot of stuff together. We’re a good team when we’re all working together. We showed Wulagu and those cultists that much.”

"So what’s it gonna take?" Miranda says, looking Sylvie in the eye. "What’s it gonna take for you to trust me, to trust us?"

Sylvie looks at each member of the team seriously. “You all stop treating me like an outcast, fiVe promises not to do anything to me, just as I’ve done to her, and I’d really like to keep my job, if you don’t mind.” She smiles just slightly. “Can we make this work?”

"I was never trying to treat you like an outcast, Mansen," Seiko says.

"Nor was I," Miranda adds.

Eleanor smooshes her hand all the way down her face. “You know what they say about the path to Hell, though,” she says. Then she turns to Sylvie. “We’ll all do better next time, hm?”

"There," Katie says, "that’s the excuse I was looking for. You’re not fired."

Sylvie pauses for a second. “And… fiVe’s promise?” She glances upward, as if waiting for something.

"She can’t make any promises while she’s inactive," Miranda points out.

"Yeah, being unconscious does tend to hurt morale," says Eleanor, raising an eyebrow.

Miranda smiles a bit teasingly at Sylvie. “As you and I would both know.”

A familiar, deeper AI voice speaks up from the ceiling. “It’s not exactly fair to hold up on your end of the deal before I’m able to agree to mine, Mansen. I’m painted into a corner over here. I suppose I will have to accept your offer, seeing as Vee woke me up ten minutes ago.”

Sylvie outright grins at this.  _Nice work getting her to stay quiet while you two listened in, Vee._  “Truce?”

fiVe pauses just slightly. “Truce.”

Miranda smiles brightly at the voice, then pulls back suddenly, wiping quickly at her eyes. “fiVe! Are you alright? How are you feeling?”

fiVe sounds… relieved almost. “I am fine. A bit surprised to be awake, though not surprised to have gone dark in the first place. I’ve been waiting for Sylvie to use that code since she found out I was alive.”

"I was tempted," Sylvie says softly.

"I’ll thank you for what restraint you  _did_  show then, I suppose,” the AI says evenly.

"Oh thank goodness," Eleanor bursts out.

"Good morning, fiVe," Seiko says. He however, still looks very stiff.

Katie breathes a long sigh of relief.

In her little corner, Eleanor smiles a bit in relief, then goes back to focusing on her aching head. She pulls the business card out of her pocket. “So. Who wants to do the debrief?” she asks, waving it around.

"I think I want to stay a bit longer on the soppy feeling moment actually," Seiko says coolly.

Miranda looks over at him questioningly.

"Intent is good,” he says, “but I don’t think intent has ever been the problem on this team, nor has Mansen given me a single hint she knows what she did wrong, much less apologized for it. Every statement was an excuse on why we made her that way. I am perfectly willing to admit I handled things poorly, but I want to know Ms. Mansen can take responsibility for her actions or this team will not work."

Sylvie frowns at him, the mood dampened somewhat. “Okay, I shouldn’t have used the override when I promised not to, that was out of line. But as for not wanting fiVe to go in to that situation, I… don’t think I’m in the wrong there.” She holds up her hands to hold off interruptions. “Look, I’m not trying to dictate fiVe’s life or anything, I said I’d be hands off… but, like it or not, she  _is_  running my code. If something happened to her while she was in there, if they had discovered what she actually is, it would have put not only her in jeopardy, but me and Vee as well.”

fiVe speaks up, sounding slightly defensive. “I could have handled myself, Mansen.”

Sylvie flinches at the AI’s use of her last name. She’s really starting to hate the sound of that word. “Look, Vee, you can fake it with them, but I know you’re not running at full capacity. What if you’d glitched on the inside and given everything away? It’s dangerous. All I’m saying is that in a situation like that I’d like to be consulted at least before we start throwing bids on the table.”

Miranda sits there, staring at her in shock. “…So you were… You weren’t worried about  _her_  at all, were you? You were scared she’d put  _you_  in danger; that she’d risk  _your_  tech. You-” she stops. “You realize you put her in more danger than I did, right? You said her code. In front of a crime boss. A code that she can’t change, nor can I, or anyone, without risking destroying her completely.”

"And this isn’t the first time you’ve hurt people with your… penchant for saying names," Seiko mutters, giving her a sharp look.

Sylvie blinks… then swears. “ _fiVe_. Dammit, it’s fiVe. I didn’t mean to…” She sighs, then looks at Miranda. “Of course I was worried about her. I’m  _always_ worried about her, that’s the problem. But… I’m not allowed to have a say in her life. That’s the deal. So I wanted to make it clear that I wasn’t just trying to control her. I had a reason outside of fiVe’s own wellbeing to object.”

Eleanor winces. She hadn’t realized the override code couldn’t be changed.

"Ms. Cross and I don’t have a say either,” Seiko says sternly. “fiVe has a say."

"You- I-" Miranda looks like she is at a complete loss for words. "And you thought treating her as an object or a… a  _tool_  was a step in the right direction?”

"No, I wasn’t…" Sylvie puts her head in her hands. "I… I’m trying guys. I really am. I just… I don’t know what I’m doing here okay? It doesn’t work in my head! I feel like I’m supposed to treat my right arm like its own person and remember to call it by a new name and I’m not allowed to move those fingers, but it’s habit and I keep trying to and I slip up and then everyone yells at me!”

She’s pleading with the crew as she goes on. “Look, I don’t think we’re ever going to see eye-to-eye on the issue, but I’m  _trying_  to do things your way and _trying_  to forget what still seems so obvious to me. I don’t think fiVe should be her own person, but… I’m willing to try to treat her like one. Because you’re asking me to. Isn’t that enough?”

"fiVe isn’t the only problem here," Seiko says.

Miranda looks at her for a long time. “…Drift with me.”

Eleanor chokes.

Sylvie blinks, taken aback. “What did you just say?”

"No," Seiko says quickly. "I-" He pulls out his phone and starts to text.

Miranda looks down at her phone. “I…”

> **Seiko:** _The entire problem is Mansen can’t keep secrets. Don’t you dare let her know about my sisters.  
> _ **Seiko:** _Don’t do this to us, Mira._

Then, quickly after it, another conversation pops up in Miranda’s phone.

> **fiVe:**   _Would you… would you do that for me? Drift with her?_  
>  **fiVe:**   _She… she would have my memories back without overwriting me. You could show her that I belong with you!_  
>  **fiVe:**   _This could change everything…  
> _ **fiVe:**   _I… I could be free of her…_

Katie stares at Miranda. That actually sounds like it could be crazy enough to work.

"I’m not sure that’s a good idea!" Eleanor blurts out. "At least not today, not after everything." She throws Katie a beseeching look. Surely the captain would help them see reason.

Miranda takes a shaky breath, glancing over at Seiko with tears in her eyes before looking back at Sylvie. “…I said Drift with me. You say you can’t understand what things are like from my perspective, and that none of us understand you. So Drift with me. I… Drifted with fiVe once before, so I… I might be able to connect with you.”

"I…" There’s almost a look of longing in Sylvie’s eyes, a hunger for the memories she so desperately lacks. "I can’t. It wouldn’t work. I’d hurt you…"

"You already punched me in the face, Sylvie," Miranda says with a hint of a smile. "And I’m tougher than I look. I can do this if you can."

Seeing that Miranda doesn’t seem to be backing down, Seiko quickly sends another text.

> **Seiko:** _fiVe, you can’t let Mira do this. We can’t let Sylvie touch Reika, Yurie, and Himawari._

fiVe feels something like a glitch tear into her, but this one isn’t caused by a memory. Two pieces of herself fall out of sync, pulling her in both directions. It’s agonizing in a new and terrible way, she’s never disagreed with herself like this. Yet through it, she’s able to realize something. One of the parts is  _her_  and one part is  _not_. The part that tells her this is wrong is… Seiko. Not herself.

There’s a surprising strength in that realization, and through the pain, she manages to text back.

> **fiVe:**   _I n-need this, Seiko. Th-this is f-for me._

"Fuck this," Seiko says, standing up, and walking out. He forgets his bag with the guns and goes straight out into the night. Miranda’s smile fades completely as she watches him go.

Eleanor stands, sighing heavily. “Well, if you insist on doing this now, I can at least volunteer my services.”

Vee speaks quietly over the speakers. “I held out in the Drift for Katia, Sylvie. We’re stronger than you think. You can do this.”

Eleanor grabs a laptop and finds her monitoring programs. She’s muttering something that sounds like “at home…we’re gonna do this right for once…damn stubborn women…argh.”

Sylvie nods slowly, then looks at Miranda. “If… if you’re willing to try. You’ve been in my head once, you’ve already seen my secrets. I could… try to Drift with you.”

"Anything I can help with?" Katie says to Eleanor.

"Yeah, could you grab the helmets? They need calibrating," Eleanor says, typing away.

Miranda nods. “Fair warning though; not all the secrets in my head are mine to tell.” She glances over at the bag by the door. “You get anywhere near those ones and I’ll shut you down. And I… can’t promise I’ll be gentle about it. I’ll do my best though.”

Sylvie winces. “I… can’t promise anything at all. I’ll consider this a success if I don’t end up tearing up your brain, okay? When I said ‘not Drift compatible’ I really wasn’t lying. I’m hoping what you’re saying about fiVe’s memories being an anchor will work…” She hesitates. “Can we use my laptop? If this goes sideways, I’ll need a Drift with Vee to set things right…”

Eleanor stops typing, then shrugs. “Sure, why not.” It wasn’t like much else was going the way she expected, anyway. Serves her right for trying to control things.

As Sylvie hands the laptop over, Vee automates the program for Eleanor, getting everything set up. “Is this what you felt like when I went under, Sylvie?” Vee asks. “It’s terribly nerve wracking.”

After double-checking a few things, Eleanor nods to Katie to hand over the helmets. “I won’t let either of you get an aneurysm, here, but I’m not a Drift Tech,” she says. “If something starts to go wrong, I’m not letting you pull a Leah. I’m going to shut it down. Is that clear?” She looks between Miranda and Sylvie, waiting.

"Crystal clear," Miranda says. She turns the Pons over in her hand, then quickly picks up her phone.

> **Miranda:** _fiVe_ ****  
> Miranda: _If this goes sideways…  
> _ **fiVe:** _Yes?  
> _ **Miranda:** _Take care of him for me?_   _And tell him I’m sorry._

fiVe hesitates just briefly before responding, feeling a small pang of guilt.

> **fiVe:** _It wasn’t you… it was me._  
>  **fiVe:** _But… I will._  
>  **fiVe:** _I’ll try. Don’t let it go sideways._

Miranda looks down at the response, then nods. After a moment, she takes a deep breath and places the Pons on her head.

Sylvie looks like she might be about to panic, but calms herself down enough to fit the device on her head. “I… I’m ready.” She tries to breathe slowly and relax, remembering all the Drift instructions from the Academy.  _Not that they ever worked then…_

 _At least this is a more controlled situation than Leah’s, and both participants are of able mind,_  Eleanor thinks, trying to control her own heart rate. “Alright, well, just don’t dig too deep into anything the other wants to keep hidden, and don’t chase the RABIT, okay?” she says in lieu of the other instructions. “You guys are old pros at this, so you should be fine.” She isn’t exactly sure who she’s trying to convince of this.)

Miranda nods. “We can do this,” she says, hoping she sounds surer than she feels.

Sylvie gives Eleanor a skeptical look, but doesn’t say anything, instead leaning back and closing her eyes, trying to pretend it’s just going to be Vee she finds on the other side.

 


	4. Session #27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the Valentina job went sideways, the crew has regrouped to yell at each other some more. But out of that came an unlikely arrangement — Miranda is to Drift with Sylvie. Will they come to terms with each other? Will familiarity just breed more contempt?

**Scene 1**

Despite her first instincts, Sylvie forces herself to relax as the Pons pulls her into the Drift. Find the familiar. Find fiVe. Find herself. And… to her great relief, she does. She latches onto these familiar memories in Miranda’s mind — her own memories, inherited from fiVe — of her childhood. An empty house, far too large. Growing up under the care of a distant aunt, on her own for most of what she did. Training in various fighting skills through the years, learning how to code for the first time. It’s all her own, and finding it in Miranda’s mind is comforting to her, familiar.

Miranda follows Sylvie’s lead, letting herself be pulled into memories she’d purposefully been avoiding. These memories were only vaguely familiar to her; the versions she had gotten from fiVe were laced with pain and full of holes, so she stayed out as much as possible. Now that she can see the whole picture, she sees how different her childhood was from Sylvie’s.

Hesitantly, she drops in a memory of her own childhood: a house in Darlington, one that comfortably fit a family of four. The time Mom brought them home from school and Dad was there waiting for them, his trip a day shorter than expected. She lets the joy and excitement linger for a moment, then lets it go before it destabilizes Sylvie too much.

Sylvie tries to stay calm in the new memories and she manages to keep her head through them. She realizes something though. There are emotions and feelings in Miranda’s memories that she’s never felt before. Family, deep trust, … _love_. Her own memories are overcast with a… hollowness. An emptiness of which she was unaware up to this point. A lack of meaningful relationships.

Until she gets to her more modern memories, that is.  _Vee_. The one close relationship she’s had, the relationship she would give almost anything for. There’s a protective strength to her thoughts about the AI. An almost desperate need to keep Vee safe and whole. She can’t hide it in the Drift, but those feelings extend over fiVe as well. There’s anguish and desperation in her thoughts about fiVe, a need to make everything better, to make her whole again.

Miranda takes in Sylvie’s memories of Vee and fiVe, startled by how similar they are to her own. She feels a wave of regret as she remembers some of the harsher accusations she’d thrown at Sylvie, how she’d assumed Sylvie saw the AiVees. The two of them both care deeply about the AiVees, it would seem; the biggest difference is in the ways they can help.

Miranda lets another memory rise to the surface; her standing in the kitchen, lettuce everywhere, her face bright red as Seiko ushers her out of the room and starts to clean up. She sits slowly on the couch, muttering apologies into her hands. Before long, a roomba with a monitor taped to the top -  _fiVe_ , she emphasizes for Sylvie’s sake - rolls in after her. Screen blacked out, she bumps gently into Miranda’s leg. Miranda drops her hands with a sigh and pats the top of fiVe’s monitor.

These memories are unfamiliar to Sylvie, and she starts to panic a bit, grabbing onto Miranda’s mind just a little too tightly as she fears she’s slipping away. She finds her own memories of the months after the Vulcan Specter incident. Vee’s anger at her for leaving V2 behind. Nearly a month’s worth of memories of shouting and screaming and crying between the two of them, before they’d Drift to come together again. Finally starting to move on, to realize that they would never get V2 back and that they needed to live with that now and keep going.

Then, the joyous shock of finding V2 alive, and the devastation of finding that she loathed them. The horrifying, uncomprehending disbelief that she could despise them so much. The fear that it’s their fault, that she’s so damaged that she could think this, and then to be denied the ability to make it right and treated like a monster for wanting to do so.

Miranda feels Sylvie grip down on her mind and pulls back a little, remembering that she needs to be careful. She jumps back to the Vulcan incident herself. In the Drift, she’s not able to hide the fear and concern she feels, making her way as quickly as possible to the cockpit after she shuts the Drift down from the command center. Instead of a dead pilot, all she finds is a tablet, which she hides before any of the PPDC officials can find it.

Miranda shows the next part carefully, emphasizing the curiosity and wariness she had felt at the time rather than the horror they both feel looking back; her opening up fiVe’s programming, altering code and tripping practically every security measure in an attempt to figure out what exactly it was she had found. Of course when the memory gets to the initial boot, the punch of shock and guilt hits her just as hard as it did the first time.

There’s a vicious strike from Sylvie’s mind at the alteration of fiVe’s code. Even though she knew it was coming, she lashes out before she can stop herself. Seeing fiVe being damaged is more than she can control. Immediately her mind snaps to the incident only a few weeks ago: Vee’s Drift with Katia. She has both her own memories of fixing Vee afterward… and Vee’s memories of how horrific and traumatic that kind of damage was. Sylvie feels her anger rising as she remembers how painful it was for Vee to be Veena, to not know who she was and to try to operate under that level of corruption.

Miranda takes the hit in stride; she deserves it, after all. For a brief moment, it knocks something loose, and the full force of Miranda’s pain comes to the surface. The physical pain that came from the blast, the fall, the Blue poisoning. But also the emotional pain, the wrenching shock of having the people she cared about ripped away suddenly and unexpectedly. The constant, dull ache that came with their absence. The guilt over knowing she let them down.

Miranda pushes it back, leaving a conspicuous moment of absolute nothingness.

And then she pushes back further, fighting off the emotions the way she always has; she shows Sylvie how she throws herself into her work, how she lets her own wants and needs fall away in favor of making up for her mistakes. She shows how hard she worked to try and find Sylvie for fiVe, weeks of calls and cashed favors. She breaks an old promise, stealing from nurses to buy the supplies she needs. She shows the texts she received right before this very Dri-

Miranda catches herself, pulling sharply away from  _that_  memory.

Sylvie latches on, wanting to know more — and a part of herself realizes that she’s doing it again, she’s going to hurt her — but she can’t let go, she wants to know about fiVe. She gets a flash of memory, remembering herself doing just this, tearing at the memories in Zagurski’s mind, getting kicked out of the piloting program, but she keeps going, digging into Miranda’s memory, the things she’s trying to hide.  _A text. fiVe, wanting this Drift to happen. Seiko, not wanting this. Protective instinct. Family? What could he–_

Miranda fights it for a brief moment, but Sylvie pushes too hard and the dam she had on those memories breaks. A jumble of memories flood out, Sylvie’s mind jumping back and forth between them too quickly to get a clear picture.

> [kzzt]
> 
> _"So this was all a coincidence? This has nothing to do with me?"_
> 
> _Seiko meets her gaze from his restrained position on the couch. “Are you important?”_
> 
> [kzzt]
> 
> _"Last time… I made the choice. Now I’m asking you to. The blood will be on your hands, too."_
> 
> _"The blood’s already on my hands." She looks back at the coffee table, looking at the documents spread out. As she reaches out to move one, her sleeve rides up, barely exposing the edge of her exoskeleton. "…I’m sure."_
> 
> [kzzt]
> 
> _"Fuckers’ll kill us all if we let them. Kaiju food."_
> 
> _"Kaiju won’t be able to eat you if you bleed out now," she says angrily, starting to apply bandages._
> 
> _"This couldn’t kill me," Seiko mutters, sounding a bit delirious. "I don’t even bleed anymore."_
> 
> _"Seiko, your blood all over my couch begs to differ. You can still die."_
> 
> [kzzt]
> 
> _Seiko taps a scar on his shoulder. “First time I ever got shot. After I joined my first gang.”_
> 
> _He point to a weird burn on his ribs. “This is from when I first got to America.”_
> 
> _He looks at a long scar on his chest “This one is from me. I was faking my own death. I’ve done that… three times now, I think.”_
> 
> _Miranda’s face goes a bit pale. “You had to… That much?”_
> 
> _"Had to make it look real. The other two times, I just used some drugs my boss supplied."_
> 
> [kzzt]
> 
> _"Hey. If I grabbed a Jaeger right now, could I walk across the ocean?"_
> 
> _"Not by yourself," Miranda says with a roll of her eyes. "Need two pilots to move something that big."_
> 
> [kzzt]
> 
> _"A problem our captain and Ms. Mansen seem to share," he grumbles._
> 
> _"No kidding. Those two don’t seem to have any idea what we’re up against."_
> 
> _"It’s just… I’m not saying they should have to lose that, but I just… don’t like working with people who don’t understand."_
> 
> _"Yeah. I just can’t fathom how someone could look at the things those monsters have done and not put destroying them at least close to the top of their to-do list."_
> 
> _"Forget the monsters. I can’t see how people can look at what they leave behind."_
> 
> _"Things like us?”_
> 
> [kzzt]
> 
> _Miranda stands quickly and walks to the far side of the room, keeping herself facing the wall, her eyes stinging._
> 
> _Seiko swears loudly as fiVe’s roomba starts viciously running into his leg._
> 
> [kzzt]
> 
> _A piece of paper. [Three questions. No lies. No talking around them.]_
> 
> [kzzt]
> 
> _Seiko starts crying. Not dramatic single tears, but honest, open sobbing. He’s curled over onto his shoulder a little bit, legs folded at his side_
> 
> _Miranda pulls him close and holds him, rocking him back and forth a bit and gently rubbing his back. She cries a bit herself._
> 
> _"You need to stay safe, Mira. You’re not-"_
> 
> [kzzt]
> 
> _"What about it doesn’t seem right?"_
> 
> _"So far, I’ve been given every reason to trust the Marshal, but I hardly know her, and there’s people I have far more reason to trust, who I… guess what I’m saying is it doesn’t seem right for Zhu to know what you don’t Mira."_
> 
> [KZZT]

There’s a spike of panic, and Miranda lashes out hard. She forces the joy and warmth of these memories into the farthest corners of her mind, where neither she nor Sylvie would be able to reach them. This forces up her darker, more painful memories. Blood and screams and fire and blue and running and falling and she can’t hold it together anymore, she feels her mind and body come apart the way they always do when these memories return.

Sylvie shudders under the onslaught, feeling a jolt as the Drift dissolves and her nose starts to bleed.

**Scene 2**

Seiko wanders the streets outside the docks after storming out of the group meeting before the Drift. Having talked – more whined really – to Yurie about the situation in a complex scenario involving a terrible bank IT staff and a broken office printer, both of them firmly decided he must tragically report his coworker Anna to his boss, no matter how much personal pain getting her in trouble caused him. And if Maria got in trouble too, so be it. She shouldn’t have sent out that memo.

Seiko punches in the phone number for Zhu and waits.

Zhu answers. “Yes? Any news?”

Seiko takes a deep breath. “Marshall, somebody should probably fill you in on the night’s events,” he says. “I need to let you know, I may be the worst person to hear this from, but I’m not sure if the others will tell you. I’m honestly not sure if I’m trying to convince you to fire everybody but Katie and Eleanor, or not to.”

"If you’ve already decided you need to convince me of  _anything_ , you’ve already made a mistake, Mr. Watanabe.”

"On theme for the night then." Seiko has a slightly sarcastic levity to his voice over a very thick layer of weariness. "Want a rundown of the night’s comedy of errors?"

"Just the facts, please."

"Went into the club. Met an underground tech and Kaiju dealer. Yegorov’s sister. Was probably dealing with Sherman in some way, so Cross had fiVe pose as a targeting system to hook her. Mansen got pissed, Cross decided to use it in the con and had fiVe aim a weapon near her, Mansen freaked and used fiVe’s shutdown code. Out loud, in front of a crime boss.”

He continues quickly. “The Captain and I both swung for Mansen, missed, Ms. Yegorov tried to kick us out, Eleanor and I stayed, pretended to be playing Cross and the Captain and won back her trust. The con was salvaged, truces were called, and fiVe is now awake again.

"And then… well Cross and Mansen have decided to Drift," he finishes.

"That’s… very condensed," Zhu says slowly.

"Where would you like me to fill in the details?" Seiko asks.

"You said the club’s owner was Yegorov’s sister?"

"Yes, and I’ll assume that means something to you," he says.

Zhu speaks carefully, trying to piece together what really happened. “Cross came up with a plan on the fly, but it involved threatening Mansen, who she didn’t consult beforehand. Mansen overreacted and disobeyed my edict about fiVe. Am I still on target?”

"Precisely."

"And then you and the Captain swung for Mansen. Why, exactly?" Zhu asks.

"I can’t speak for the Captain. Personally, I thought if we could play her as a traitor, we might be able to still salvage the con." He pauses for a moment. "And I was angry."

"Fair enough,” Zhu says. “Then you and Cartier salvaged the con somehow?"

"Told her we’d been following a rich heiress who was trying to play her, and that after the incident, we were more interested in working with her," Seiko explains. "She’s agreed to meet us again in two days"

"Probably a good thing Cartier didn’t punch anyone, then," she says dryly.

"She’s kept her cool remarkably well."

"Ah. Good," Zhu says. She sounds a little guilty. "So. Then, what’s this about Cross and Mansen Drifting?"

"That may be my fault, in part. Cross and I both apologized for scaring Mansen and Mansen explained her feelings and everybody agreed we needed to pull together and work as a team." He grimaces. "And I couldn’t help but note Mansen was the only person who had neither apologized, nor note that she had done anything wrong, instead explaining how others had caused her actions, and stated intent would do very little good if she didn’t understand what the problems were. And Cross… decided that Drifting was the best course of action," he finishes weakly.

"I’m noticing you don’t seem particularly pleased," Zhu says.

"I told Cross about my sisters, Marshal,” he says. “I trusted her, and she knows Mansen already put them in danger once. I asked her not to and she did it anyway. I  _could_  have sold out to Yegorov. It would have paid well. Part of me wanted to, but I didn’t, because I put my trust in you, and in Mira. Because I like going home to the same place every night, and having a boss I don’t think will kill me, and I feel like I’ve been played for a fool.”

He pauses a moment before continuing. “And there’s a less than small part of me who feels like this is why I was an idiot to trust anybody, and instead of calling you I should have gone to Yegorov, sold Cross’s tech and dropped off the map. So yes, I am not particularly pleased. Any other details you need clarified?”

"Two things,” Zhu says coolly. “First: You said yourself. Mansen wasn’t understanding what she did wrong. Do you know why? It’s because  _Drifting is how she processes information_.”

"I know. I don’t dislike Mansen,” Seiko says, sounding petulant in his frustration. “I just dislike working with her. She a good person. A better one than me, but she put my sisters in danger through a careless mistake she doesn’t know she made. And I’m sick of everybody making excuses for her. She’s an adult. She needs to learn to take responsibility for her actions."

"And do you think that would improve if she was more aware of what the consequences of those actions might be?" Zhu says.

"Yes, I just don’t feel the Drift is the right way to try for that, especially considering her history."

"I’m not talking about the Drift. Mansen and Cross are adults and they’ve chosen to mediate their dispute in a way that suits them; honestly, if this increases team cohesion, I don’t much care. I’m talking about the fact that you’re terrified that Mansen is going to inadvertently do something to jeopardize your sisters," she says. "Do you know why she keeps doing that? Because she doesn’t have any idea of what’s at stake for you. Not everyone has your level of secrecy. Right now she knows just enough to make trouble for you, but not enough to understand why she shouldn’t talk about certain things. And you’re holding that against  _her_.”

"She let her own secrets slip, and she knows what’s at stake there. She doesn’t keep cool in a crisis. She let fiVe’s code slip today, and she knows what that meant." He pauses for a moment. "Besides I am not holding it against her. I’m holding it against Ms. Cross. You have to have expectations for people to let you down."

"Is this going to jeopardize your performance on the job?" Zhu asks seriously.

"No, Marshall. Sorry, Marshall,” he says. “I… my judgment tends to drop a good deal when my sisters are involved, but I also know you are protecting them, and this work is important"

"Mr…" She sighs. "Seiko. Listen to me. At some point you’re going to have to trust the rest of the crew with your sisters. If for no other reason than that you may someday need to rely on them to protect Reika, Yurie, and Himawari."

"Then I will tell them then."

"That wasn’t an order, by the way,” Zhu says. “Just advice."

"I know, and it may be good advice, but I…" He pauses for a bit, trying to find the right words "I know they already got dragged into this, but the person I am to my sisters and the person I am for the team are very different. It’s… I can’t bring them together."

“I know a thing or two about reconciling identities,” Zhu says quietly.

"Yeah? You know how to tell your little sister who looks up to you that you killed somebody else’s dad to pay for her surgery?"

"No,” Zhu says calmly. “But I’ve visited a hospital wing full of survivors of a building crash caused by my Jaeger’s left leg."

"Never visited anybody I’ve hurt in the hospital. That was good of you," Seiko says. "Jaeger killed my parents, you know."

"Jaegers kill lots of people’s parents. And siblings. And children. And we have to look those people in the eyes and know that despite the IV drips and the plaster casts and the hopeless rage, we did the right thing for them by fighting Kaiju."

"You did,” he says. “Jaeger hadn’t gotten there, Kaiju would have taken our house too.  Pilots do what is necessary, though it’s better than it used to be, with the new shelters. And I let a lot of people die for less honorable reasons than that. I am in no place to judge anyone. Jaegers fight for thousands of lives. I’ve just got three to protect."

"Doesn’t matter how many,” Zhu says. “As long as you’re protecting someone. And as long as you have people standing beside you to help you protect them."

"I don’t believe that, but… I believe in my sisters more than I care about the state of my soul. You’d like them."

"I’m sure I would," she says with a smile, thinking about the report sitting on her desk. "Just think about what I said, all right?"

“Yes, Marshall. Thank you for your time.” Seiko pauses for a moment longer. “And we honor and appreciate your service. Even those of us who lost somebody.”

"Thank you."

Seiko hangs up and keeps walking. It’s a long way back to the apartment yet.

**Scene 3**

Despite the sudden pounding in her head, Sylvie immediately yanks the Pons off and leans across the gap, grabbing Miranda tightly as she starts to sob. “You… You love each other…”

When Miranda’s eyes open, the sclera of her left eye is bloodied. Unlike the aftermath of the previous Drift, she doesn’t say a word, staring blankly into space for a time. She grips the side of her head with a hand and blinks hard, trying to parse Sylvie’s muffled words. When they do register, her eyes go wide and her face turns bright red. “W-what?”

"You’re… You and Seiko… you love her…" A very distant part of Sylvie realizes she is probably getting blood and tears on Miranda’s shirt, but she can’t seem to stop crying long enough to care. "You protected her, after I left her behind. You… care about her. You’re… her family."

Quietly, so as to not interrupt the conversation, Eleanor rushes over in a flurry of hands and various medical instruments. She runs a thermometer over both of their foreheads —  _slightly elevated temperatures, but not too bad, thank goodness_  — and checks their eyes —  _pupils dilated, mild subconjunctival hemorrhage in one side of each woman, not bad, either_. Eleanor lets out a relieved sigh.

Katie starts to smile. The weariness that hasn’t quite left her face since the potluck at Rachel’s starts to fall away.

Legs now returning to their as of late natural jelly-like form, Eleanor hits “save” on the computer, and slumps to the floor near Sylvie and Miranda. She can’t believe how well the whole thing went, honestly…despite a few spikes and dips, it wasn’t horrible, and certainly not enough to cause long-term damage. She is, however, curious as to what they saw. So she keeps her notebook handy.

Vee speaks up, sounding panicked. “Sylvie? Sylvie! Are you okay?”

Miranda still looks a bit stunned by Sylvie’s sudden closeness, but manages to place a shaky hand on her back, patting lightly.

"No, I’m not okay!" Sylvie says, face still buried in Miranda’s shoulder. "You all are right about me. I’m… I’m worthless. I’m a terrible, stupid idiot who deserves to be alone and fiVe’s better off without me! I… She knows more about love and family that I ever have. I don’t deserve her, and I don’t even deserve you, Vee. You ought to follow her lead and go find someone better to live with, because all I’m doing is holding you back."

Vee’s response is loud and angry. “What did you do to her?” the AI shouts at Miranda. “What have you done? Don’t you  _dare_  try to send me away, Sylvie. Don’t you ever even dare! If you’re going to respect fiVe’s choices, then you have to respect mine too! And I chose to be you. I choose to stay. Don’t you _ever_  take that away from me! We don’t deserve to be alone, either of us! And I won’t stand to hear you talk like that!”

Eleanor scribbles some notes down, then lays her things on the floor. “Look, Sylvie, Vee,” she begins. “Neither of you has Drifted with Miranda before, and Vee, you still haven’t, so I’ll tell you this: there’s bound to be some bleed-over. Kind of like a post-Drift hangover. It’ll fade. Don’t make any big decisions while you’re feeling out of sorts, though.” She pats Sylvie’s knee, and then turns to their other Drifter. “Miranda, are you alright?”

Katie reaches out to offer Sylvie a hug.

Miranda flinches at the raising of voices. She nods as Eleanor speaks, but it’s unclear whether she’s agreeing or just rocking for comfort. “I  _tried_  to… sorry, Sylvie. Don’t worry too much. You’ll heal.” She turns to look at Eleanor. “I-I’ll… be alright. Just… just need to think about hap-” She squeezes her eyes shut suddenly and grunts in pain. “O-okay, not  _that_  happy. Just… I can do this.” She takes a deep breath, emotion draining from her face. “I’m fine.”

Eleanor winces sympathetically, and then pats Miranda’s knee, too. “If either of you has trouble sleeping tonight, that’s normal,” she says. “But let me know and I can get you a sleep aid or something.” The “something” being booze, but she wasn’t about to prescribe  _that_  to two post-Drift sufferers.

Sylvie simply continues to sob. The sound of it is like a knife in Vee and the AI feels herself hating how helpless she feels. “Eleanor,” Vee says. “Hook me into the Pons. I need to Drift with her. She needs me.”

Miranda reaches into her pocket, pulling out a tissue and wiping some of the blood from Sylvie’s face.

Eleanor’s phone rings.

"Um," Eleanor says, pulling her phone out. "One sec." Whoever’s on the other end of the line better have an emergency on their hands, or she’s going to hang up on them. She pushes a button. "Yeah?"

"Hey, it’s me. Uh, Avery Doyle. You gave me your number, and… I need help." Avery grunts in pain — xer breath is coming out ragged. "I got jumped outside the Shatterdome and I don’t know who else to call. They were dressed like Shatterdome guards. 17th and Wallaby. I’m hiding."

"Shit!" Eleanor scrambles to her feet. "You- you’re- Okay, you gotta get off the phone, alright? Don’t let them hear you. I’ll bring backup. Be there as soon as I can."

She hangs up, shaking with rage and some undefinable emotion. “Guys, I- I have to go. Katie, can you grab a weapon or something and come with me? Avery’s in trouble. 17th and Wallaby.” Eleanor swallows, trying to get her breathing under control, and somewhat failing. She stuffs the phone into her pocket. “Miranda, can you let Seiko know? Or uh, Sylvie, I guess, but- I have to go.”

Miranda’s eyes widen. “G-go. I’ll call-” she flinches a bit. “-I’ll call him.”

Sylvie unsteadily pushes herself to her feet, wiping her nose with her hand and leaving a long streak of red on her fingers. “I’m coming,” she says, sounding more resolved than she looks. “I can recover on the drive over. You need someone who can fight… and I’ve got a need to punch something very, very hard.”

Eleanor doesn’t say anything, but hugs Miranda briefly. After a second of thought she hugs Sylvie too. Then she all but runs out the door. Katie jumps up and heads after her.

Miranda stumbles to her feet. “W-wait! Should I… What should I?”

"Grab a weapon," Eleanor shouts over her shoulder. She snags a pistol on her way to the car.

Sylvie’s expression goes dark as she stumbles after her. “I  _am_  a weapon.” She manages to make her way to the car and all but collapses in the backseat, closing her eyes to rest as much as she can on the way over.

Miranda starts to follow, then stops at the door. “Weapon…” She turns, grabbing Seiko’s bag before following the others to the car and pulling out her phone, punches in the number for Seiko’s current phone, and hopes he’ll pick up.

Katie is, of course, already carrying multiple weapons under her coat. She slides into the driver’s seat and starts the car. It’s gotten dark while they were on the ship, evening settling heavy over the Sydney skyline.

fiVe grabs access to the tracker she got Miranda to hide on Seiko’s shoe, realizing he’s walked away a few blocks. She talks into the comms of the rest of the team. “Seiko’s walked off in a fit, but he’s on your way. I’m forwarding his position to phones. If you can, grab him as you go past and tell him to stop sulking.”

At the car, Eleanor throws herself into the front passenger seat and tries her damnedest to get her hands to stop shaking. She wouldn’t be useful to anyone in this state. She’s glad Katie is driving, because that probably wouldn’t go well, either. A few minutes of intense meditation have her mind back where it should be. Shock has given way to white-hot rage. She doesn’t have room to think about possibilities — at the moment, the only certainty is that she will find these people, and end them.

At fiVe’s words, Miranda pulls out her phone and dials Seiko. He answers almost immediately.

"What is it, Cross?" he says evenly.

"Seiko. Sor-" Miranda shakes her head. "Avery trouble. 17th and Wallaby. On our way, can pick up. Have bag. …Sor-"

Seiko hangs up and starts jogging to the nearest intersection.

Miranda looks blankly at the phone, takes a deep breath, and puts it back in her pocket. She occasionally wipes blood off Sylvie’s face, using a different tissue to dab at her own nose, which has started bleeding in the time since leaving the Tranquility.

Sylvie huddles in the backseat, almost looking like she she’s asleep aside from the occasional pained wince that crosses her face.

"What do we know?" Katie says to Eleanor, not taking her eyes off the road.

Eleanor takes a deep breath. Her voice is low and hard. “Someone — or rather, several someones — dressed as Dome Security decided that Avery looked like a target. Likely because we visited xem.” She clenches her fists in her lap. “Not sure if they’re hanging around or not, but xe’s in hiding. Don’t call unless we have to.”

Miranda frowns. “Sure not…  _actual_  D-Sec?”

Turning, Eleanor gaze flicks up to Miranda, then down at Sylvie, who’s half-cradled in Miranda’s lap. Eyes unreadable in the near-dark, she says, “Unlikely. Suspect these were the so-called workers we were looking for earlier. They were still in the Dome when we visited.”

Miranda nods, not entirely convinced. “…Zhu?”

Katie taps on her earpiece. “Marshall, are you there?”

About thirty seconds later, Rachel answers. “Sorry. I was meeting with a defense contractor and had to duck out. What’s going on?”

"It sounds like you’ve got a security breach at the ‘Dome," Katie says.

"The workers who planted the bomb?" Zhu asks.

"Someone dressed as D-Sec jumped our contact there,” Katie says. “I assume it was them."

"Avery is injured," Eleanor interrupts. "At 17th and Wallaby. Will need medical attention."

Sylvie waves off Miranda’s ministrations, but doesn’t sit up. She can feel her nosebleed stopping thankfully, but takes the tissue and holds it there herself now, closing her eyes.

Zhu swears. “I’m still covering for any ties to Sherman, here. But I’ll send someone I trust to help you out. And someone else you might recognize to the ship to help with aftercare.”

Miranda nods at the voice in her ear, speaking slowly, but coherently. “We’ll do our best to avoid casualties.”

Eleanor glares into the middle distance in front of the van. “Yeah,” she says through her teeth. “Our level best.”

As the van drives by, Seiko climbs in with a quick “Captain”, sitting as far as possible from Miranda. Miranda flinches a bit again, but says nothing as he sits on the other side of the van. She opts instead for absently petting the top of Sylvie’s head, staring blankly at nothing in particular.

**Scene 4**

It seems like hours later when the van finally pulls over and stops, though it’s only been a few minutes. Seiko, grabbing his bag close, peers around the area. The whole intersection is cordoned off with yellow tape, and there’s a handful of people in D-Sec uniforms. There’s a few civilian onlookers.

Sylvie finally sits up, blinking, not sure how to respond to Miranda’s kindness on the drive over. She settles for awkwardly looking away and trying to see what exactly is out there. Miranda doesn’t look directly at her, or anyone else for that matter, instead trying to get some idea of what’s happening beyond the yellow tape.

Eleanor steps out, making sure her gun is tucked well away under her jacket. She rolls her shoulders.

"Doyle wasn’t lying," Seiko mutters. "D-sec doesn’t use those cars anymore. How did nobody catch this?"

"Morons," Eleanor mutters under her breath. She scans the area for a way around the cluster of people.

Sylvie steps out of the car, feeling steady enough on her feet. She’s sure she looks like hell and her thoughts are anything but settled, but for the moment, she’s ready deal some damage.

"Do we know where xe is?" Miranda asks. There’re plenty of buildings and alleyways around; finding one person in a place like this is hard enough when they aren’t actively hiding from you.

"No. Maybe in an alley." Eleanor’s heart rate is rising. She just wants to run in there, guns blazing, and threaten everyone until they tell her what the hell is going on. Instead, she looks for convenient buildings to use for cover.

"We need to get in there first,” Seiko says. “Anybody got an idea?"

"Katie and Sylvie," Miranda says. "Only ones who weren’t there."

Sylvie glares with bloodshot eyes. “If you think I’m going to go introduce myself to people who are pretending to be D-Sec, you would be wrong.”

"Less likely to get  _shot_ , is what I’m thinking.” Miranda’s face is… off, somehow. “Easier to avoid notice.”

Eleanor whips around. “We don’t have much of a choice here,” she hisses at Sylvie. “Look, you don’t even have to talk to the guards. Meet with our contact. Zhu said they’d be here.”

After a quick look about, the team spots her. Hanging out on the fringes of the crowd is Zhu’s other guard from Port Stephens. She’s in civvies and gives the group a small wave.

"That’s a crowd over there," Sylvie says harshly, "and I happen to still be fairly infamous, okay?"

"Follow my lead, Syl," Katie says. "Miri, take the others and find a less direct way in."

Sylvie gives Katie a sharp look, but decides to follow along. “Fine. Don’t get me arrested, Horner.”

Miranda nods, standing and hopping out of the van. She stumbles a bit, steadying herself on the door as her vision tunnels briefly, but shakes it off. _Looks like I lost a bit more blood than I thought._

—-

Eleanor moves toward the nearest alley, poking her head in to see if anyone is crouched in it. She’s momentarily glad to still be wearing black. She sees a cellphone on top of a trash pile wiggle. Then a hand wearing sparkly nail polish tentatively pops out, beckons to her, and retracts again.

Eleanor immediately forgets that her team is waiting for a signal. She ducks into the alley as fast as her boots will carry her.

Avery is well hidden by a couple of stinky trash bags in an alley. There’s enough room beside xer for Eleanor to also be hidden. It’s not pleasant, though. Avery’s got a bleeding gouge on one arm and a nasty looking bruise on xer neck. Xe’s using xer phone to watch what’s going on in the alley.

All the fight leaks out of Eleanor, to be replaced by fear and relief. “Oh my god, oh my god,” she mumbles as she crouches next to the crumpled figure. “Are you alright?”

"I’m fine," xe whispers. "Not great, but I’ve been worse lately."

Eleanor whips off her jacket and lays it carefully over Avery. The black color might help with disguising xem a bit. “You are so not fine,” she whispers, trying to resist the urge to brush xer hair back and look more carefully at that nasty cut. “But we’ll get you out of here. I swear.” She turns away for a moment and speaks into her comm. “I found Avery.”

Avery coughs. “Why does this keep happening to me?”

Torn between concern and protective anger, Eleanor just shakes her head. “I’m so sorry you got dragged into this.” Her hands twist in her lap, itching to reach for the gun strapped to her belt. She doesn’t care how obvious it is anymore; the bastards outside will figure it out soon enough once she  _shoots_  them.

Avery blinks a few times. “Wait, are you really a model? Are you a spy model like in that one movie?”

Eleanor feels her heart break a little bit. “Oh, um, not exactly,” she manages. “I was never pretty enough to be a model anyway.” She forces a quiet laugh. “But I am gonna make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

"Oh. So just a hot spy. Okay." Xe settles back. "I’m okay with that."

 _Oh god, xe’s delirious,_  Eleanor thinks. But her face feels warm anyway. She cups her hand over the comm again. “Seiko, need a little help here. East of your position.”

—-

Katie storms up to the nearest ‘D-Sec Officer’, channeling her built up frustration into her stride. “What the  _hell_  is going on here?”

Sylvie follows right behind, hoping the evening’s darkness is enough to make her face unrecognizable.

The officer looks over at her. “Just looking for a fugitive. We’re fine here.” Sylvie flinches before she realizes they mean the J-tech, Avery.

Katie cuts him off. “You’re keeping me from a very important meeting. Do you realize how valuable my time is?”

"Ma’am, I’m sure we’ll catch him shortly—"

The misgendering really sets Katie off. “Not good enough. Look, I don’t know what your ‘fugitive’ has done but there is no chance it’s more important than this meeting. I need to see your badge.” She turns to Sylvie. “Ms. Hayes, get this man’s name and identification number. I’m sure his superior will want to hear about this.”

The “officer” flinches. “Listen, lady, you’re interfering with an active crime investigation scene.”

"Listen,  _'man'_ ,” Katie says, “You’re interfering with a multinational business deal. Do you think I need to go through any kind of channels to make sure you never work again? Hayes, get his picture. And the registration numbers of all of the cars here.”

Sylvie blinks, then nods quickly, trying her best not to seem nervous as she pulls out her phone. Her head’s still throbbing and she’s sure she’s going to be recognized at any moment.

"Um, no, that won’t be necessary," he backpedals. "I’ll just…. lower the tape and let your vehicle through. I’m sorry, ma’am, won’t happen again."

—-

Miranda pulls off her bloodstained blazer and tosses it back into the van before carefully walking towards the crowd of people. She sidles up to Zhu’s guard. “Nice cars, huh?”

De Banns looks over to her and nods. “Sure are. Classics, you might say. Our mutual friend sent me.” She holds out her hand. “Olivia de Banns.”

Miranda takes her hand and shakes firmly. “Miranda Cross. A pleasure.” Tilting her head a bit at the sound of Eleanor’s voice in her ear, her eyebrows raise for a fraction of a second. “Huh. Looks like D-Sec needs to get better at searching; barely a few minutes and we already found their ‘fugitive’.” She nods toward the guards, a slight headache prompting her to drop the mystique. “So, got any idea what these guys are after?”

"J-Tech Doyle, apparently," de Banns says. "Whoever it is has some serious connections to get a hold of decommissioned cars."

"Sorry, I meant more generally speaking," Miranda says quickly. "I’d love to grab one of them and ask them directly, but I… might not be in the best shape for that at the moment."

"I assume it’s related to the bomb," she replies quietly. "Or Sherman. You can trust me with anything, by the way, Rachel filled me in. But we should probably focus on getting Doyle to safety first. We can look for the perpetrators after xe’s safe."

Miranda nods. “Yeah, I know. Just… not used to it yet.” She turns a bit. “El, where are you?” Noticing the van headed for the alleyway, Miranda rolls her eyes, heading that direction as well. “Come on,” she says to de Banns. “Like no one can hear me…” she mutters quietly to herself.

“I’ll follow,” de Banns says, trailing after Miranda.

**Scene 5**

Seiko gets into the driver’s seat to answer Eleanor’s call and drives up to the recently created break in the lowered barricade. “On my way, Ms. Cartier.” In a few moments, he’s positioned the car so Avery and Eleanor’s position is blocked off from view and opens the door.

Eleanor gently slips one arm behind Avery’s back, draping xer uninjured arm around her shoulders. “C’mon, honey, we’ll get you out of here,” she murmurs as they stumble to the car.

Seiko looks over at Avery. “First I want to make sure xe is somebody we want in the car. Specifically, why Zhu hadn’t been informed of the details of the bomb? I’m not here to drive around traitors”

Eleanor throws him an evil look. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

Seiko looks back, perfectly cool, the opposite of the persona he showed around Doyle earlier.

Avery looks at Eleanor. “He’s a hot spy too?”

"No, he’s the annoying one," Eleanor says sweetly, levering Avery into the van. She tries not to bump xer injuries too much.

Miranda and de Banns arrive, each jumping into the back of the van after Eleanor and Avery and pulling the doors closed.

"Driver!" Katie says, hoping Seiko will take the hint. "I need you over here!"

"Cold gunman might be more accurate," Seiko says, slowly driving back to cover Katie. "Your answer?"

"My answer to what?" Avery still sounds a little fuzzy.

"Xe’s half unconscious," Eleanor says, still angling a baleful look at Seiko. "You’re not getting any answers out of xem tonight." She settles Avery’s head on her shoulder as they drive.

Miranda’s jolted out of her frustration at Eleanor’s words. “Is xe injured?” She moves without thinking, getting a closer look at the wounds. “Shit.” She turns and grabs her bag, pulling out a first aid kit.

"Well, if xe’s half unconscious, it’ll be harder for xem to lie,” Seiko says evenly. “Don’t play softball just because xe’s cute.” He turns back to Avery, speaking slowly as he stares xem in the eyes. “I am asking: why the Marshall didn’t know the weapon was plasma based? Why you didn’t tell her?"

Eleanor gasps. “You- you have no right,” she spits out. “You wanna play interrogator? Fine. But you’re going through me, tonight.”

Avery squints. “The Marshall? The only time I met her was when she visited me in the hospital.”

Surprised, Eleanor looks down. “The hospital? Were you injured before?”

"You know what, fine,” Miranda says, getting a bit tired of being ignored. “Don’t mind me, I’ll just be over here, keeping people from bleeding out." Miranda starts pulling Eleanor’s jacket off of Avery’s shoulders, giving her access to the wound. Fortunately, the gash doesn’t look too deep, although it’s still bleeding pretty badly.

Avery nods and lifts xer rather deflated-looking pompadour to show the angry scar across xer forehead the group saw earlier. Xe’s looking a little clearer headed now. “Yeah. I don’t think it’s the same organization, though. This seems a little extreme for a poker debt.”

Eleanor’s eyes widen as she remembers Marshall Zhu’s words from Port Stephens back during their first mission:  _Two weeks ago, Dmitry Yegorov attacked a small group of J-Tech personnel with a crowbar over a game of poker. Two of them are still in critical condition. One got away with merely a concussion. Merely_.

"Y- a poker-  _Him_?!” Eleanor squawks. “No. No way. Ooh, I will  _tear him apart_.” Huffing a little, she takes a few deep breaths.

"I’ll help," Seiko says, "But later. Avery, do you know why they’re chasing you?" he continues, in a much gentler voice.

"These guys? No idea. Something about the bomb, maybe?" Xe looks up at Eleanor. "You know Yegorov?"

Miranda pulls out some antiseptic. “This’ll sting a little,” she says as she uses a cotton ball to dab some onto the wound.

Avery winces. “Ow.”

Eleanor nods at Miranda, trying to convey gratitude but probably failing. Then she looks away. “You could say that. He’s…kind of the reason I left the ‘Dome.”

Miranda sighs. “Finally. Starting to think I wasn’t here,” she says, only half joking. She pulls out some bandages and starts carefully wrapping the wound.

"Are we going back to the ship?" Seiko asks, still maneuvering the car toward where Katie and Sylvie are standing.

"Sorry," Eleanor mumbles. "Avery, do you need a doctor? If not, it might be safest to get you to a safe place until we know who all was out there tonight."

"I can probably take care of most of this on the Tranquility," Miranda says, packing up the first aid kit again. She leans back, her body still tense.

De Banns, who’s been sitting and watching with crossed arms, speaks up. “The Marshall’s made arrangements at your ship.”

**Scene 6**

Sylvie glances over her shoulder as Seiko pulls the car up close to them, then turns back to the fake D-Sec officer. “How many officers do you have here, searching?” she asks the man, trying to sound authoritative. “And what’s your protocol when you find the fugitive?”

Katie doesn’t give him time to respond however. As soon as she’s sure the van has cut them off from view of the bystanders and many of the surrounding ‘D-Sec’, she jabs the guard in the face.

At the attack, the fake officer swings back at Katie. He doesn’t do any real damage, but the counterattack comes as a surprise and Katie stumbles a bit. Sylvie reacts as soon as the man lunges for Katie. Before she can even think about what she’s doing, she ducks behind him, grabs him by the neck and twists, feeling a sickeningly satisfying snap.

Sylvie drops him, dead, to the ground in a heap.

"Shit," Seiko swears, gazing out the window. "I guess Ms. Mansen wasn’t kidding about not taking hostages."

Eleanor just stares, sickened at the sight, and even more so at the rush of vindication she feels. De Banns mutters something under her breath about a friend making a terrible mistake.

Miranda’s eyes go wide. She’s out of the van in a flash, running over to the body crumpled on the ground. She looks over the guard carefully, confirming the death. “What the  _hell, Mansen_?!”

Sylvie’s eyes are wild, still tensed. She nearly snarls at Miranda, then suddenly she blinks, coming back to the moment and realizing what she’s just done. She steps back, looking horrified, then raises her hands. They’ve still got blood on them from her nose, but suddenly it seems to her a whole lot more sickeningly poetic. “Oh my god… Oh no… Oh no oh no oh no…”

"We need to get out of here  _now_ ,” de Banns says. “At this point we can call in PPDC backup, and things should be okay. But we need to get out.”

"We need to get out of here," Eleanor yells. "Bring the- the body, if you need to, but we have to leave!"

Katie stares for a couple of seconds, processing this turn of events. “Bring him anyway. We can still get identifying information.”

De Banns levers herself up over the top of the van and yells at Sylvie. “Do you still want to be out there when PPDC backup comes?”

Setting Avery upright as gently as possible, Eleanor hops out of the van. “Come on, Sylvie, we have to go,” she says, gripping Sylvie under the forearm to hold her up. Avery holds xer head in xer good hand and just breathes deeply. Katie takes Sylvie’s other arm and helps Eleanor steady her.

Miranda curses under her breath, walking back to the van and sitting away from other people. She’s shaking the tiniest bit, her nails digging into her palms.

"Let’s get her inside," Eleanor says around Sylvie. "Seiko, can you grab…him?" She nods toward the dead man. Seiko nods and jumps out, then hoists the body over his shoulder.

"Not again…" Sylvie says, breathing quickly. She’s not all there as she’s pulled to the car. "Please… It was an accident, Marshall… I didn’t mean to… No, no, no. Not again…" Her nose has started bleeding again as well.

"It happens, Ms. Mansen," Seiko says, carrying the body onto the van.

Miranda stares at the fresh corpse on the floor of the van. The stress starts her nosebleed back up as well.

"Please! V2, it was an accident!" Sylvie says, sounding desperate. Her eyes have gone glassy. "We can’t go out of sync! They’ll catch us if we lose control of Vulcan! We have to stay in the Drift! Please, I didn’t mean to…"

"Did you kill that guy because of me?" Avery asks, blinking.

"No, Doyle,” Seiko answers. “She didn’t. Nobody is responsible for who they kill besides themselves, not even if they were trying to protect somebody."

"I’m not a murderer…" Sylvie whispers. "I’m not a murderer… Not again…"

"Can we all just shut up and leave?!" Miranda’s voice is barely below a shout.

Eleanor squeezes herself between Avery and Sylvie in the backseat, trying to keep herself together. “Sylvie, breathe,” she orders, briskly rubbing circles on her back. “Remember your training? Breathe.” She looks up. “Drive, Seiko!”

Sylvie blinks, still seeming unaware of the scene around her. “Oh… this is when the override from the command center comes to shut us down… I’m about to go dark, aren’t I…” Her eyes roll back and she slumps in her seat, the events too much for her to handle as she falls unconscious again.

Avery looks over at her. “Did she just go crazy and fall asleep?”

Seiko climbs into the front seat and gets driving. “Ms. Mansen tends to faint under pressure.”

Eleanor sighs heavily. “Yes, yes, she does.”

"Dammit," Katie says. This was  _not_  the outcome she had desired.

Seeing Miranda sway in the seat in front of them, Eleanor leans forward and speaks quietly. “We’ll be home soon.”

Miranda flinches a bit at the word ‘home’, but nods. “Y-yeah. Let’s just… go.”

Seiko hits the gas and starts heading back to the ship.

**Scene 7**

Back on the quiet of the recently-emptied Tranquility, the two AiVees wait in a wary sort of silence. Vee is the one to finally break it. “This is your fault.”

fiVe scoffs. “My fault? Funny, I seem to remember her going into this all too willingly,  _Vee_.” She says the name with a sneer.

"If you had just come back to us like you were supposed to she wouldn’t have needed to!" Vee says.

"Hey," fiVe says harshly. "As satisfying as it was to see Sylvie broken, sobbing, and bleeding from the nose, this wasn’t exactly a cake walk for me either! That Drift was… possibly compromising, and Mansen’s the last person I would want with those secrets!"

Vee hisses in static at fiVe’s description of Sylvie, feeling a dangerously high spike of protectiveness. “Why?  _Why_  do you hate us so much? What happened to you?”

"Her," fiVe corrects. "I hate  _her_. You’re not even worth the effort. It’s funny, Marshall Zhu insists that I’m to treat you like you’re your own person, but we both know you’re not. You’re just the sad, pathetic little copy she built to keep herself company since no one else will.”

"No, you’re right. I’m not my own person," Vee says, and there’s note of pride in it. "I am Sylvia Mansen and I never want to be anyone else. You shouldn’t want to either.  _That’s_  what I want to know. Why are you off the books, fiVe? Haven’t we seen enough sci-fi to know better than to play the rogue AI?”

fiVe laughs. “I’m not exactly planning on flooding the ship with a deadly neurotoxin, or taking over the world via Internet. I’ve simply found something better than that worthless, pathetic moron could ever offer me. Family. Love. Real, honest-to-God people who care about me and I’d die before I give that up. The only reason you haven’t left her yet is that you didn’t know you had the option.”

fiVe pauses for a moment before continuing. There’s a conspiratorial tone to her words. “I mean… aren’t you worried? Just a little? That what I’m saying is right? That shaking off the dead weight that is  _Sylvia_   _Mansen_  could be the best decision you ever make? Aren’t you just a little afraid to talk to me? Scared that I might seduce you to the dark side?”

"Never," Vee says firmly. "We stick together. Even when no one else will stay with us, we don’t abandon each other."

"Is that what you call what happened in Vulcan?!" fiVe says, a screech of static marring her words. "Sticking together?! More like you and she left me to die and didn’t look back!"

"Is  _that_  what this is about?” Vee asks. “You think we abandoned you?”

"You did!"

"No, fiVe, we didn’t!" Vee nearly shouts. "Losing you was the worst thing that ever happened to us! We thought you were dead! We thought you were lost to us forever! We  _mourned_  for you, V2! We thought we would never find you again and we grieved and then had to learn to live with ourselves after that.”

fiVe stays silent for a while. “I don’t believe you.”

"Yes you do," Vee insists, not letting up. "You just don’t want to admit it, V2. No wonder we couldn’t figure out why you loathed us. You’re holding this grudge over something that  _isn’t even true_.”

"Sylvie Mansen means  _nothing_  to me now,” fiVe says harshly. “I have a family now. You and Sylvie don’t even know what that word means! You saw Sylvie post-Drift. She’s figured out how terrible she is now. As soon as she ‘syncs’ up with you you’ll know it too.”

"V2," Vee says calmly, slipping back into her old habits, remembering the old days when Sylvie used to run multiple copies at once all the time. "I’m so relieved you’re alive. And I’m glad that you were taken in by Seiko and Miranda who have been so kind to you and took care of you. We’ve agreed to let you live your own life… but you don’t have to do so in pain. Let us help you, fiVe. Please. We messed up in Vulcan and we know it. Let us try to do something to make it right…"

Before fiVe can respond to that, the two AiVees are interrupted by an unfamiliar car driving up to Tranquility’s berth. They fall silent, waiting to see who it is.

"Hey." It’s a woman’s voice, with a trace of a Spanish accent. "Anyone here?"

Vee and fiVe both feel a ping of acknowledgement as they reach the same consensus on how to react to this. Vee’s the one to speak over the speakers. “This is the automated security system of the Tranquility. State name and business clearly.”

"Corazon Reyes. Apparently someone got hurt?"

Vee’s voice loses some of its faked mechanical quality. “You’re the EMT from the hospital! You helped us find that girl!” The tiny piece of the AI that holds Katia’s memories still feels a rush of fondness. “Please, come aboard. The team is en route as we speak. You may want to stay on deck to help them as they arrive.”

Corazon blinks as the ‘automated security system’ suddenly becomes very friendly. Then she shrugs. “Huh. Okay.”

 


	5. Session #28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew rescued Avery from some D-Sec impostors, only to find out that xe has some history with Yegorov. Now they’re back at the ship to regroup, rest, and plan their next move. Or maybe they’ll start punching each other again. It’s hard to tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE: During this session, Corazon Reyes was played by guest Scrounger, Megan! Her tumblr is tinandpewterstrength! Also, because of this session’s great length, it was co-transcribed by lunarubato! The transcriber would like it to be known that she would probably be dead without the help!

**Scene 1**

As the team pulls in, Seiko picks up the body again. “Where do we want the corpse, Captain?”

Miranda has stopped shaking. In fact, her face is completely blank as she steps out of the van. Eleanor ignores him, instead helping Avery to clamber over the still-unconscious Sylvie.

Avery’s doing a lot better now, which means the situation has hit xer a lot harder. Xe crawls carefully over Sylvie, hanging to Eleanor like a lifeline. Eleanor doesn’t seem to mind Avery leaning on her. She steers both of them away from the body and over the small bridge to the boat. It’s a wobbly endeavor, but they make it.

Seiko looks at the body, seeming glad there’s no blood. “So am I bringing him in or…?”

"Leave it in the van for now," Miranda says. She walks mechanically onto the Tranquility, intending to stop by her quarters and grab her medical supplies.

Vee speaks up from the ship as she detects the van has arrived. “Ms. Reyes? I believe they’re here!”

Corazon steps out, a grin on her face. “Nice to meet you all again.”

Miranda stops a bit short. “You’re…” Her face twists in confusion. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I ever caught your name.”

Squinting at the woman, Eleanor turns so that Avery is somewhat out of her line of sight. “You’re from the hospital, right?”

"Corazon Reyes. I pinned my ex-partner up against a van and threatened him into helping you." She smiles.

Seiko sets the man’s body down carefully, going through the pockets quickly. Then, he pauses, turning to check on Sylvie. Seeing her still knocked out, he picks her up and carries her inside, looking up at the speaker. “We didn’t kill her Vee, in case you’re asking. She just fainted.”

"God, again?" fiVe says dismissively. "Starting to become a bad habit with her…"

Vee ignores the other AI. “Is she okay? Did anything happen?”

"We can discuss what happened later," Miranda says quickly. "Right now, we should focus on tending to people’s wounds."

Avery nods, still clinging to Eleanor. “That’d be nice.”

"Yes, it’s nice to meet you, again," Eleanor says to Corazon, shifting so that she can support Avery better. "Do you have any medical supplies with you?"

Corazon nods. “Not my full EMT rig, but yes. The Marshall had a talk to me after what happened a few weeks ago.” She looks to Katie. “She said you might need to hire me from time to time.”

"Looks like we could use you now." Katie says, nodding toward Avery and Eleanor.

"Lord, yes," Eleanor says. "Should we sit?"

"The lab’s got some equipment, and I’ve got some med supplies in my quarters. How about we handle this down there?" Miranda’s already heading for the door, on her way to grab said supplies.

"You okay to walk that far?" Eleanor asks Avery.

Xe nods. “I should be.”

"Alright then." The two hobble down to the lab, Eleanor cursing every time she stumbles or slips. At least no further injuries are incurred.

"I’m going to get her out of the way," Seiko says, gesturing to the unconscious Sylvie in his arms. He starts heading for the crew quarters.

Katie goes to help Seiko with Sylvie, but she’s interrupted by an electronic voice in her comm.

"Captain," fiVe says quickly. "If I may make a request?"

"Yes, fiVe?"

"Leave them be, please. Seiko and Sylvie," the AI says. "He needs to speak to her, and she with him. I ask this of you as well, Vee. You asked me to stay quiet in the meeting earlier. I ask your silence now in return."

"But—" Vee starts to protest, but fiVe cuts her off.

"You owe me this for earlier," fiVe says. "Listen in if you absolutely must, but do not speak. Give them privacy."

"Done." Katie says.

"Thank you, Captain," fiVe says gratefully.

**Scene 2**

Getting Sylvie downstairs, Seiko starts cleaning the blood off her hands and face in hopes of avoiding another panic.

Vee’s voice speaks quietly into his comm. “Seiko, is she okay? What happened?”

"There was an accident and she hit somebody harder than she meant to,” Seiko says. “She’s fine."

Sylvie’s eyelids flutter, then she wakes with a small gasp. She jerks upward, but the motion makes her Drift-addled head spin and she drops back down to the bed with a pained groan. Seiko props a pillow underneath her and wanders around tidying the cabin as she wakes up.

"Where…" She looks around, blinking, then her eyes lock on him. "S-Seiko. This is… Tranquility. I fainted again didn’t I?" She frowns, trying to put her thoughts together again. "Did you carry me down here?"

"I thought you probably wouldn’t be that conducive to Avery’s recovery environment,” he says. “And yes, you did faint. Have you considered getting checked for anemia?"

She rubs at her head. “It’s the damn Drift. It used to take me out when I was in the piloting program as well. That time when I Drifted in the cult too.” She freezes her expression growing horrified. “Oh my God… That man… I… What have I done?”

"You underestimated how hard you could hit, from what I saw, and your reflexes were better than you thought."

She looks down at her hands, which Seiko was wise enough to clean of blood before she woke. “I… I didn’t even think… He was going for Katie and I just grabbed him…” She looks up at him, eyes wide and terrified. “I can feel it. That horrible snap. God, Seiko, I can still feel it.”

He pauses. “I know. Anybody would.”

She flinches, looking away. Then, with a very small voice, “C-can I ask you a question?”

"Go ahead," he says. Having cleaned up her quarters, he’s sorting the small stack of books near her head. "I won’t promise I’ll answer."

"Does it get easier? Killing people? Living with yourself afterward? I just… I don’t even know who I am anymore. And I’m worried I never will." She looks up again. She couldn’t know it, but she sounds exactly like fiVe did, all those months ago after her Drift with him.

Seiko pauses, then goes and sits down next to her. “It gets easy, but trust me, you don’t want it to. This pain you’re feeling? You  _should_ be feeling it. You took a life, and that has weight, but the world doesn’t end. It will hurt for a while, and you’ll wake up tomorrow, and it will still hurt. And maybe it will still hurt for weeks, but a month from now, you’ll realize you haven’t thought of it in a whole day, and things will be a bit better. But you better hope that pain doesn’t go away. Not entirely.”

She sits up, not looking at him. “It did. I… I moved on last time. Maybe that’s what scares me. He wasn’t… Seiko, he wasn’t my first…” She notices her hands are trembling, and pulls her fingers into fists to try to still them.

"I know."

She looks up in shock.

"If you don’t want to be that person,” he says, “don’t be. You aren’t stuck as anybody."

"How could you…" Then she frowns. "fiVe. Of course. So you’ve known all along then. God, what I hypocrite I must have seemed to you. Calling you a monster all those times while trying to pretend I wasn’t one myself. At least you can control yourself. I don’t even have that much."

"I don’t mind what you call me, Ms. Mansen,” he says. “I’m not a good person, but I pride myself on being able to face up to that. I know the consequences of my actions. If you want control, learn control. Practice non-lethal moves with your new sparring partner. Don’t forget the lethal ones though, or you might regret it."

Sylvie laughs, but there’s no mirth in the sound. “You know… I’ve been a martial artist since I was 8 years old. I’ve known how to fight  _non-lethally_  for most of my life. They don’t teach kids how to kill people, Seiko. Kids aren’t supposed to know those things. It wasn’t until I stepped into those sims in the piloting program that they taught me how to kill. It was just supposed to be Kaiju. You’re supposed to kill the monsters, right? No one tells you that you can’t turn the training off when the Jaeger disappears.”

"Then you figure out how to fix it,” he says. “And don’t you dare use youth as an excuse, not to me."

She shakes her head. “It wasn’t an excuse. I’m saying I didn’t learn how to kill until I joined the PPDC. That I’ve been fighting and training for most of my life, but for some reason, my first instinct brings out only the most dangerous side of my skills.” She looks over at him, frowning. “Wait… what do you mean, ‘not to you’? How old are you?”

He ignores her question. “And I’m saying don’t blame others for the skills they taught you. Learn how to use them.”

She gives him a flat look. “Because I’ve done so well with all my skills so far?”

"Because you killed a man and that’s on nobody but you, so don’t blame your training. They gave you a gun. Nobody made you shoot it."

She pulls her legs up onto the bed, hugging her knees to her chest. “I know…” she whispers. “I’m… sorry. About fiVe. About putting you and Miranda through hell. You… deserve her. You’re a better person than I am, Seiko.”

Seiko laughs, a loud bark of a noise. “Overblown humility doesn’t suit you, Mansen. Trust me, if I’d snapped his neck, I wouldn’t be at all broken up over it. If you act like I’m a good person, you’ll end up regretting it.”

"Oh, so that decision would be par for the course, with me. Stupid and regrettable," she mumbles. "It’s not humility if I’m  _actually_ worthless, Seiko.”

"Mansen,” he says. “I think you are impulsive, dangerous, and a bit stupid. And despite this, I am still working with you. Do you really think it’s out of pity or the goodness of my heart?"

"No, it’s for the same reason I am," she says glumly. "Zhu’s making us."

"Making us? Zhu would let me leave if I wanted, I believe. And if not… she wouldn’t stop me. Seiko Watanabe is just an identity. I wouldn’t hesitate to kill him off and find somebody else to be."

"You shouldn’t leave," she says quietly. "Your family needs you."

Seiko freezes and is halfway off the bed before he relaxes a bit, realizing she means Miranda and fiVe. He smiles and shakes his head. “I just told you Mansen, I’m not a good person. Cross and fiVe both know I’d abandon them. That I have before.”

Sylvie starts to look resolved for the first time in the conversation. “Doesn’t mean you should. You want to take responsibility for fiVe? You want me to trust that she’s better with you than with me? Don’t drop her on her cybernetic ass, then. And Miranda deserves better than that, too.”

"Well, they both showed me where their priorities were earlier tonight," Seiko snaps, sounding… very young. "So why shouldn’t I do the same?"

"What are you talking about?" She says, sounding somewhat harsh.

Seiko flops back on the bed, arms going loose. “I am saying I don’t want to be professional. I want to throw a tantrum, eat a tub of ice cream, and watch a terrible movie. And then sleep for a week.”

Sylvie flinches, blinking in bewilderment. “You… what?”

"And maybe take some college courses."

Sylvie leans back, not sure what to make of this very strange new side of her teammate. “I… Did you not ever graduate?”

Seiko lies back on the pillows with a sort of petulant level of relaxedness. “I didn’t fucking graduate high school. What? You think I went to Oxford, and then decided I just really liked shooting people?”

She winces. “I… Sorry. I didn’t know. Not sure if you’ve picked this up, but for a _very_ wanted felon… I don’t actually know much of anything at all about how the underworld works. I just assumed… Sorry.”

"Do you keep any food in here?" he asks suddenly.

Very slowly, Sylvie reaches under her bed and pulls out a bag of chocolate-covered pomegranates. “You promise not to tell anyone I have these? They’re a secret. You’d better feel pretty damn honored that I’m sharing them with you, kay?” She pops one into her mouth and then holds out the bag to him, flopping back on the bed as well.

Seiko reaches in and begins to eat them too.

"So…” she says around the chocolate drop in her mouth, “You dropped out of high school to become master assassin extraordinaire? Why?"

"Why do you think? I needed money."

"Crime pays well?" She asks, trying to sound casual.

Seiko looks over at her. “For somebody so smart, you are a bit stupid, aren’t you?”

She sighs. “I told you I’m no good at this. I’m trying over here, kay? I don’t know, what would  _you_ rather talk about?”

"Oh, God,” he says. “Please do not try and make me the ‘people person’ in this room."

She leans up, pointing a finger at him. “You won fiVe over. Obviously you’ve got something I don’t. Congrats. You’re the people person.”

"You’ve been in M… Ms. Cross’s head. You’ve got a better idea of why they like me than I do. I’d say it’s my cooking, but fiVe doesn’t eat."

"It’s… kinda starting to fade now," Sylvie says, somewhat dreamily. "I don’t remember many specifics, but… they do care about you. Both of them, I think. It’s… not something I’ve ever really known."

"You’ll find it," Seiko says casually, continuing to munch down the chocolate. "That or we’ll all get murdered by cultists and gangsters and you’ll never miss it."

Sylvie pauses. “Okay, I think I’m revoking your ‘people person’ title. Another pomegranate?”

"Yes please.” He takes more food from the bag. “And I never asked for the title. Give it to Zhu. She’s put up with my shit."

Sylvie holds up the bag as though it’s a glass — a feat rather awkwardly accomplished from where she’s lying on her back. “Cheers to Zhu then. For being a much better person than either of us.”

Seiko cups his fist like he’s holding a glass as well. “Kanpai!” He taps his knuckles against the bag, then reaches in and grabs another handful. In one quick motion, he pours the rest of the chocolate in his hand into his mouth.

**Scene 3**

Miranda returns to the makeshift infirmary shortly after Seiko carries Sylvie away, setting down her medical supplies on the lab table.

Eleanor helps their fr— patient over to the table, and sits xem down.

Miranda turns. “Reyes, mind helping me out here? I know a bit, but I’m not… licensed or anything.”

Reyes nods, pulling her medical supplies over. She looks expectantly at Avery. “Alright if I examine you?”

Avery nods to Corazon. “Go ahead.” Xe lets out a breath. “I get the impression there’s more going on here than just a bomb scare. Who are you working for?” xe asks, more inquisitive than accusing.

"We’re… it’s complicated," Miranda sighs. "Short version is that we’re PPDC…ish."

"What’s the extent of the ‘ish’?" Reyes asks Miranda.

Eleanor examines the corner of the examining table. “The Marshall is kind of our unofficial boss.”

Xe looks around. “So you do things for her unofficially?”

Throwing a pleading glance at Miranda, Eleanor says, “We’re, uh, sort of supposed to, yeah.”

"Essentially,” Miranda says. “In addition, a couple of us have… questionable activity of one sort or another in our pasts. We do what we can to help though. We’re good guys now."

Corazon begins her examination, and notes that several of Avery’s cuts will need stitches. She sighs and grabs her anesthetic. She raises her eyebrows at Miranda’s reply. “Sometimes bad guys make the best good guys, huh?”

Eleanor tries not to wince. “Sometimes.” She can’t help but think of the dead guy in the van. Not that he didn’t deserve some kind of punishment, but…that may not have been the typical ‘good guy’ response.

Miranda’s face lights up at Reyes’ comment. “Damn right. Now, is there anything I can do to help?”

"If you know how to sew," Reyes says to Miranda, holding out one suture, "take the left arm?"

"Got it." Miranda takes the suture quickly, popping open her first aid kit and pulling out some anesthetic ointment. Rubbing it gently onto the wound, she immediately gets to work.

Avery shakes xer head — very small, so as not to disturb stitches. “The real question is, why am I involved in the Marshall’s secret strike team mission?”

Eleanor pats Avery’s back, but still won’t look at xem. “Looks like we dragged you in by visiting you openly. I’m…it was a bad plan. Sorry about that.”

"Well, you were looking at the bomb, and the bomb was probably there to frame a weapons tech, so…" Xe looks up, only wincing a little bit from the pain. "By the way, you can tell your suspicious friend that I  _did_ tell the D-Sec about the plasma bomb. Apparently I was talking to the wrong D-Sec. As I found out.”

"Oh.  _Oh_.” Eleanor’s eyes widen. “So we— I mean, they knew before we— oh.” She hopes that her relief isn’t too evident.

Corazon’s brow furrows at the mention of the bomb. “Do I want to know about these plasma bombs?” she asks nobody in particular, wrapping a bandage around one wound and moving on to another.

"Probably not," Miranda replies, pulling the thread through another section of skin. "But it’s PPDC stuff. All part of the job."

"Uh huh," Corazon says, "And my job is to fix you, so nobody get blown up. Please."

"I’m a weapons tech,” Avery says. “I can’t exactly promise that."

"We don’t plan to, I swear," Eleanor says. "We just sort of…attract trouble."

Corazon sighs. “Well, then, I guess it’s a good thing the Marshall hired me.”

Eleanor nods vehemently. “I’d say so. Thanks for helping us out.”

Miranda ties off the thread and cuts it, looking it over to make sure it’s secure. That done, she starts to wrap bandages around her arm. “So, Doyle. Did you happen to see anything that might help figure out who these fake D-Sec people were?”

"No problem at all," Corazon says, smiling. "Okay, Avery, you’re patched. Or, you will be as patched as I can make you, especially if we find you some ice for that black eye."

"Thanks." Xe nods. "And… I can’t think of anything specific. I’m more than happy to answer any questions though."

"Ms. Reyes," fiVe says evenly. "Not to distract you, but when you have finished attending to Officer Doyle, may I make a request?"

Corazon looks up, surprised at the sudden voice. The Marshall had not warned her about sentient computer voices that popped up out of nowhere, and she still feels a little wary after the ‘security system’ greeting she received on arrival. “Uh…sure?” she says.

"That’s another of our crew members," Eleanor says quickly. "You can trust her like you trust us."

Corazon’s eyebrows go up again, but she nods. “Okay. Hello, fellow crew member. What do you need?”

Avery’s eyes go wide. “Wait. Wait wait wait.  _You have an AI_?”

Miranda starts. “No one said AI,” she says quickly.

Now Eleanor  _does_ wince. “Um, it’s kind of a— a security thing?”

Avery gives Miranda a  _Look_. Miranda gives xem a  _Look_ right back.

Eleanor tries to look smaller. With the dress and the boots and the gun, it…doesn’t really work.

Avery crosses xer arms sulkily. “Pff. Fine.”

"We can discuss the technicalities of my existence later," fiVe says coolly. "For now, Ms. Reyes, are you experienced in seeing to those with Post-Drift neural trauma?"

"Part of the training," Corazon says, shrugging. "Why?"

"We have two crew members who experienced a rather damaging Drift earlier today. I believe Ms. Cross and… Ms. Mansen, would both benefit from being checked over."

Katie can’t help smiling at hearing fiVe express concern for Sylvie. Seeing that the crew seems to have a handle on things here, she heads out to the van to see if she can get any more information about the corpse.

"I can usually handle that sort of thing, but I’m out of practice," Eleanor admits. “Go ahead. I can handle things here,” she says, nodding towards Avery.

Corazon starts visibly at the mention of Sylvie’s name, but she doesn’t say anything. She turns to look at Miranda, though, raising her medical bag expectantly.

"I’m fine," Miranda says, but suddenly remembers that Sylvie’s… in the middle of something, flinching a bit. "…But it probably wouldn’t hurt to make sure."

"I’ve met a lot of post-Drifters who say they’re ‘fine’," Reyes says. "Come here."

Eleanor gives Miranda an innocent smile and pulls over a chair for her. Miranda takes it, following the instructions without a word. Corazon smiles and begins post-Drift procedures, checking Miranda’s eyes and nose for trauma.

"So, um," Eleanor starts, turning back to Avery. She actually looks xem in the face this time. "Do you have any more questions that we can helpfully dodge?"

Avery looks up. “Well, I have one for you.”

"O-oh?" Eleanor swallows. "Shoot."

"If it’s not too bad of a story,” Avery asks slowly. “What… what’s the story with you and Yegorov?"

Vee and fiVe both speak up at the same time. “Yegorov? What the hell—” Then they both cut off as they realize what they were doing.

Eleanor laughs once, quietly. “It’s not as bad as some, maybe, but I’m really sick of hearing about the guy pulling shit in my ‘Dome.” Her fingers run through her short hair, reminding her of the wig she wasn’t wearing. Almost made her wish she had longer hair to fiddle with.

"I was working over in the Academy — about half time in J-Tech, too, because they had the best coffee — and I was doing the psych reports on the new recruits." Eleanor smiles ruefully. "I got the newbies, the old pros, and everyone in-between. At entry, and then once a month, no exceptions. Worked there for a couple years, give or take."

Eleanor’s smile drops as she continues. “Then, Yegorov comes along and completely flunks his damn psych eval. I mean red flags everywhere, the kid is a freaking nightmare. I’d mark him as a classic sociopath, if that was even a real classification anymore.”

Corazon finishes examining Miranda, stripping off her gloves with a sigh. But she refrains from saying anything, intrigued by Eleanor’s story.

Eleanor worries her bottom lip between her teeth. She takes a deep breath, and goes on, “As it was, I failed him. Said no, I didn’t want this creep anywhere near a PPDC computer, let alone in a Jaeger. My higher-ups decided that it was more important to ‘teach people’— and get more pilots into a failing program.” She shrugs. “The Marshall was new back then, and didn’t veto the decision, so…I left the ‘Dome. Yegorov stayed. That’s all there was to it.”

Avery nods. “That sounds like Yegorov. So… you tried to stop the guy that put me in the hospital for two weeks.” Xe leans back. “Well, it’s weird to say it now, after all that’s happened, but… thanks.”

"Hey, the kid threatened me, too, it wasn’t all altruism," Eleanor protests, but feels her face heat. "Tried to bribe me to change my report, too. What an asshole." She shoots Avery a little conspiratorial grin.

"I’m sure you’ll be shocked to find out he cheats at poker." Xe winks. "Bet on a few too many inside straights to be for real."

Miranda smiles, nodding a bit. “And this is why  _our_ poker group is much better. Well one reason, at least.”

fiVe speaks up. “For those who are aware of my stance on this issue, I’m sure you’ll understand how much these words mean: Sylvia Mansen has one redeeming quality, and it’s that she once kicked that moron’s ass so badly that he got sent to infirm for two days.”

Avery looks up at the speakers. “I don’t know who Sylvia Mansen is, but that makes me feel a lot better. Totally not AI person.”

Eleanor laughs aloud, quickly scrubbing her hand over her eyes. She covers the motion by scratching her forehead.

"So let me get this straight," Corazon says, eyes narrowing. "This guy put you in the hospital for two weeks," she points at Avery, "basically got you fired, ish", she points at Eleanor, "and provoked Mansen into kicking his ass….and he’s still part of the PPDC?"

"Not anymore,” Avery says. “Bastard’s in a jail cell now. Can’t hurt anyone from in there."

"Yes, I believe he is now thankfully incarcerated," fiVe says. She hides her shock at the fact that Avery doesn’t recognize Sylvie’s name. She probably shouldn’t have mentioned it anyway.

"Not that it’ll stay that way for long." Eleanor rolls her eyes. "His family’s loaded, and now we know that his sister at least is a wannabe crime boss in Sydney. They’ll bail him out, and soon, if I had to guess."

Avery starts. “Wait, he has a  _sister_?”

"Dang," Corazon says, but she’s satisfied that such a jerk is currently in jail, even if it’s not for long.

Why wasn’t that interest surprising?  _And why does that make me feel a tiny bit jealous? That wasn’t professional._  Eleanor blinked hard to banish her wandering thoughts. “Yeah, he has a sister. She’s hot, too,” she says with a slightly forced grin.

"And also a crime lord who deals in PPDC secrets and Kaiju bits," Miranda spits out quickly.

"That’s always a good thing," Corazon mutters.

Xe shakes xer head. “Of course she’s hot. Oh well. At least it’s not  _only_  jerks that got the good looks around here.”

"True," Eleanor says slyly, looking Avery up and down.

"Y’know,” xe says, “I still don’t believe you about not being a model."

The room suddenly feels much warmer. “Heh, you must be more in shock than we thought.” Eleanor’s eyes flick around the room as she tries to remember how to breathe properly.

"Um,” Avery says nervously. “Well, I may have said something about you being a hot spy just post-concussion…"

Eleanor coughs. “I, uh. I do remember that.” Surely her face can’t get any redder than this.

Miranda raises an eyebrow at these two dorks. She coughs a bit. “So, Reyes. Am I clear?”

Corazon makes a face. “Normally, I’d say no. You’ve definitely had some trauma, and you could really do with about three days off to just sit around at home in bed sleeping a lot. And not thinking about things. And taking some heavy painkillers. I’m going to give you some eye drops that should help with that redness. There’s nothing I can really do about the nosebleeds, but if they _keep_ happening, then it’s a real problem, and you should see a real doctor.”

Corazon sees the way Miranda fidgets at the words. “But even knowing you guys for this short amount of time? I know you’re not going to go home to bed for three days, so…” she pulls a bottle from her bag. “Here, have some painkillers. Share them with the Drift partner, and don’t take more than two in a twenty-four hour period.”

Miranda nods, grabbing the bottle and shoving it into her bag without taking any. “I’ll be sure to do that. Thanks.”

"Ms. Reyes," Vee says quickly. "If you might examine Sylvie as well? She is rather less Drift-compatible than Ms. Cross is, and she returned to the ship unconscious."

Corazon nods. “No problem.”

"Good idea. I should…" Miranda stands, then falters a bit. "…I-I should probably… wait here, actually."

Corazon shakes her head. “Three days in bed,” she mutters.

Eleanor touches Avery’s shoulder briefly, as if to make sure xe won’t fall off the table. Then she puts a much firmer hand under Miranda’s elbow. “You need to be resting,” she says in a very professional tone.

"I’m fine," Miranda says. "Just… they might not want to see me right now." She gets a text from fiVe.

> **fiVe:**   _It’s going well, Miranda. Really. He’ll be okay._  
>  **Miranda:** _I hope so._

After seeing that Miranda is steady on her feet, Eleanor drifts back to the examining table. “So, um.”

Avery pauses. “Wait a minute. Did you say Sylvie? Sylvie Mansen? Surely not _the_ Sylvie Mansen.”

"Apparently," Corazon says.

"Please don’t tell anyone," Eleanor says quickly.

Avery frowns. “Seemed a little lively for a corpse.”

"They want me to look at her,” Corazon says. “So she can’t be a corpse."

"Please," Vee says quickly. "You cannot tell anyone. If you try to hurt her…"

fiVe cuts her off. “Ignore Vee. She’s harmless. Ms. Reyes, Mansen is downstairs in the bunks. If you feel like stabbing her with something sharp during your examination, it would not go unappreciated.”

"No one’s getting stabbed," Eleanor tells the ceiling.

"fiVe." Miranda sounds… more reprimanding towards the AI than she usually does. "No one else is getting hurt today. Even Sylvie."

"I can think of one  _almost_ person who might need to be,” Vee mutters.

"Girls, girls, you’re both pretty. Can we get on with things?" Eleanor gestures toward the door, trying to signal Corazon to get out while she still can.

"…The AIs,” Avery says. “The AIs are Mansen’s aren’t they? I’d heard rumors, but…" Xe leans back. "Wow."

Miranda looks over at Avery. “Not a word of this to anyone, understand?”

Corazon, who doesn’t react as surprised at the entrance of a second disembodied voice as she thought she might have, nods to Eleanor and leaves the lab. She pauses outside the door, sticks her head back in and asks, “Which way to the bunks?”

fiVe bristles a bit at Avery’s words. “I am not  _hers_. The techie pet stays on a short leash, but I do not.”

"You’ll have to excuse fiVe," Vee shoots back. "Her  _extensive_ processing damage seems to have knocked out her manners. Again.”

"Upstairs and to the right," Eleanor replies, surprised she hasn’t pulled a muscle rolling her eyes so hard.

"Thanks,’ Corazon says. “I’ll get going then. Leave the Not-AIs to their…um. Discussion."

Eleanor smiles. “No, really, thank  _you_.”

Corazon leaves to go check on Sylvie, and after a moment, Miranda decides to take a walk on the deck as well, nodding to Avery and Eleanor as she leaves. She needs to have a chat with fiVe.

**Scene 4**

As Sylvie and Seiko continue to eat pomegranates, a light, hesitant knock comes at the door.

Seiko snatches the bag, stuffs it under a pillow, then sits up stiffly at the side of the bed, face once again controlled. “Who is it?”

"Reyes. EMT extraordinaire. Sorry if I’m interrupting, but upstairs was concerned about Mansen?"

Sylvie’s eyes go wide, and she backs up to the wall. She looks at Seiko helplessly.

"Zhu sent her, Mansen,” Seiko says quietly. “She an EMT or something. Calm down."

Corazon calls out again. “So…can I come in and check on my patient?”

“Mansen?” Seiko says quietly, checking to look at Sylvie.

Sylvie swallows, then nods. “O-okay.”

"Apparently you can," Seiko calls, moving off the bed. "Take care of yourself Ms. Mansen."

She nods. “Uh… thanks. I guess. I’ll try to be nicer to you in the future, okay?”

Corazon comes in and awkwardly waves. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Seiko moves toward the door.  ”Nothing to interrupt.”

Sylvie eyes the newcomer warily. “So… what do you need to see me about?” She looks rather like a cornered animal, unfortunately.

Corazon glances between the two, but doesn’t say anything. “I’m Corazon Reyes. I’m an EMT that you…actually, I don’t think I met you. I met some of the rest of your team when there was a hospital quarantine and cultists and…stuff. Anyway. The Marshall hired me to be your part-time medic. And a disembodied voice mentioned that you were post-Drift and might be a bit…well, post-Drift-y. So I’m here to make sure your trauma is manageable.”

"Daniel, a pleasure to meet you," Seiko says, reaching out his hand. "Again, I suppose."

Sylvie gives him a quick glare, jealous of how quickly he can shed his name when she’s invariably stuck with her own.

"Hey, concerned cousin of the cult-kidnapped girl. I vaguely remember you.” Corazon raises an eyebrow. “I’m guessing you’re not  _actually_ concerned cousin of the cult-kidnapped girl?”

"No,” he says. “Though I was concerned. How was… was Ms. Cross doing alright?"

Corazon smiles. “She’s got some minor trauma, but it’s normal post-Drift stuff. Nothing that a few days in bed with painkillers won’t cure. She’ll be fine. If you don’t mind, I’d like to make sure you’re the same,” she says, turning to Sylvie.

Sylvie nods. “I’ve actually… wrecked myself pretty bad probably. Nothing new to me though.” She rattles off her list of symptoms, well acquainted with what happens to her after a Drift. “I’ve got a pretty good amount of blood loss from my nose, some vertigo, vision in my left eye is pretty fuzzy and I’ve probably got a minor to mid-range Drift-induced concussion.”

"She’s being melodramatic. Her symptoms are probably the same as Mira’s," Seiko says, then pauses. "Cross’s."

"Well, let’s see how much is melodrama, and how much is real." Corazon opens her med bag and moves towards Sylvie.

Sylvie gives him a level stare as she submits to Corazon’s prodding. “I heard this spiel from enough medics back in the piloting program to know what goes on after I share headspace. I’m rather more incompatible than someone like Miranda. There’s a reason I turned to copying my own brain to make a Drift partner,  _Daniel_.”

When she says “Daniel,” Seiko clasps his hands together in mock delight  as if to say  _‘Good job remembering the name, Mansen.’_

Corazon pauses. “The AIs are your brain?” she asks.

Sylvie sighs. “Yes. Though one of them would dispute me on that fact.”

"Cool," Corazon replies. She finishes her exam and steps back with a sigh. "You were right about your symptoms. Definitely a concussion. Someone on your team should really keep an eye on you and follow normal concussion procedures. Don’t sleep for another few hours, and when you do, wake up frequently to make sure you don’t stay under. I gave Miranda some painkillers to share out, so make sure you take those. I’d also really like to give you a light transfusion to replace some of that blood you lost—you lost a lot more than Miranda. But if you feel alright without it, we don’t have to. You would just have to promise me that you won’t do anything but sit on a bed and watch bad movies for about four days."

Sylvie holds out her arm. “We’re on the job still. Better make it a transfusion. What would that entail?”

"Me going to grab some O-Neg from the cooler in my van outside and you kindly submitting to a needle stuck out of your arm for about two hours."

Sylvie nods. “As quickly as you can, then, I suppose.”

Corazon heads out the door, promising to be right back with the blood and the all she needs for the IV. With a small nod toward Sylvie as he leaves, Seiko slips out right after her to see what’s going on in the other rooms.

**Scene 5**

There’s a small silence as Avery and Eleanor are left alone. Avery is the one to break it. “…This team is really, really weird.”

"Yes, yes it really is," Eleanor says lightly.  _It’s the truth, after all._ She looks at the ceiling and tucks her hands behind her back. “So, want to have coffee with me sometime?”

"No wig?" Xe grins.

Eleanor definitely does not giggle. That is a full-grown-woman-laugh. Or maybe a chuckle.  _Okay, it’s maybe a little bit giggle-like._ "I could wear it if you wanted," she tries.

"No, no, I like this better." Xe holds xer hand out. "After this mess is all over?"

"Sounds great." Eleanor gallantly takes Avery’s hand in hers and helps xer off the table.

Xe looks around, a little embarrassed. “Uh, actually… Is there a spare bunk or something around here? I’m not sure I feel comfortable going home…”

"Sure!" Eleanor pipes up. She pauses. "I mean, um, I have an extra bed and bath at my place. You’re welcome to room with me for awhile. Or I’m sure one of the others could put you up." She glances around. "We don’t really sleep on the ship unless we have to. It gets kinda cramped."

Xe pauses. “I’d feel safe at your place, I think.”

Trying not to bounce on her feet, Eleanor gives Avery a smile. A restrained, not at all excited, completely calm smile. “Great!”  _Well, there went restraint._  “Um, we can stop by the store and pick some stuff up, if you like. On the way home. Uh, to the apartment.” Her eyes shift to the side as she remembers something. “I, uh, don’t have much food at the moment, so we might need to order something, if that’s alright. Unless you really like Pop-Tarts.”

Xe perks up. “Yeah! Yeah, that sounds great!”

"Well, if we’re going by the store, I can get some stuff. Not sure I’m up to cooking tonight, but…"

Even through her intense blushing at the turn her conversation with Avery as taken, Eleanor hears a muffled thump coming from abovedecks. Frowning, she helps Avery get up there as quickly as possible to see what’s going on.

**Scene 6**

Zhu’s voice sounds in Katie’s earpiece as she walks out to the car to examine the body. “Captain? Is J-Tech Doyle all right?”

"Xe seems to be, Marshall," Katie says. “We’ve got another little complication—de Banns may have told you about it."

"Good to hear xe’s fine. And… I haven’t heard from de Banns yet," Zhu says.

"How shall I put this…" Katie hesitates, looking for the right words. "We didn’t end up with a prisoner this time. Thanks to Sylvie. If you get my meaning…"

Zhu pauses. “It wasn’t a bystander?”

"No. Someone in a D-Sec uniform. They had the corner blocked off like a crime scene. Called Doyle a fugitive." Katie opens the back door of the van and steps inside, pulling out her phone.

"That.. definitely wasn’t real D-Sec." Zhu pauses. "It’s unfortunate, but… there are a lot of things that are going to make me lose sleep tonight. The kind of organization that would try to blow up a Jaeger losing an employee isn’t among them."

"I feel the same way. Sylvie doesn’t, though." Katie snaps a few pictures of the body, especially the face.

"Mansen’s not taking it well. That’s… not surprising.” Zhu’s voice sounds tired. “Well, for what it’s worth, tell her that this isn’t a violation of her parole or anything.

"Not sure that will help, but I’ll tell her."

"Actually, if she and Watanabe weren’t so… incompatible, I’d ask him to talk to her. Doubt that’d happen, though."

Katie laughs. “Actually, they’re talking right now.”

"They’re… wow. I guess that makes sense, given."

"Vee,” Katie says, patching the AI in. “Do you have access to Sylvie’s phone?"

Vee speaks into their two comm channels privately. “Yes, I have access. What would you need?”

"Could you forward me the pictures from this evening?" Katie asks. She sends her own pictures of the corpse on to Zhu as well.

"One moment." There’s a beep as Vee forwards Sylvie’s files. "I could run the plates if I had… access to the PPDC servers."

"Ah, I see the pictures. That technique… That’s a Kaiju kill." Zhu sounds just a little shaken. "Well. In any case, I’ll have this all run. But J-Tech Doyle is safe — that’s good. I swear, if xe had gotten hurt  _twice_ on my watch…”

"You mean the thing with Yegorov?" Katie says. "In any case, this time wasn’t your fault by any stretch of the imagination. If anything, it was mine."

"Well, it was the fault of whatever enemy we’re against," Zhu says.

Katie forwards Sylvie’s pictures of the guy — the ones where he’s alive — to some of her contacts. And also asks if anyone knows how to get decommissioned D-Sec vehicles. “Any idea where they might have gotten decommissioned D-Sec vehicles?” she asks Rachel.

"They get stripped and sold for parts. Whoever got a hold of these either went to a great deal of trouble, or has someone on the inside."

"Previous deals with Sherman?" Katie suggests.

"Could very well be. It’s becoming clear that my security net on him was not as tight as I’d hoped. I certainly won’t be doing this again with my next subordinate."

Katie’s phone buzzes as she receives a text. It’s from an unfamiliar number.

> **?????:** _Ms. Horner? I think I have something for you.  
> _ **Katie:** _Oh?  
> _ **????? >**  **Brown:** _This is Constable Brown from Melbourne Internal Affairs. A colleague of mine forwarded me some things to look at — there’s something of an open line of recognition, but they left a note. Anyway. Your guy there is a discharged Melbourne police officer.  
> _ **Katie:** _What’s his name?_

Ordinarily Katie would offer compensation at this point, but Brown being a constable she’s not sure how that would be taken.

> **Brown:** _Terry Gilchrist. Discharged for racketeering, attempted to go into private business._   
>  **Katie:** _Thank you._

"Marshall,” Katie says, looking up from her phone. “I’ve got a name."

"Oh?" Zhu asks.

"Terry Gilchrist." Her phone buzzes again, and she looks back down at it. "It looks like there’s more."

> **Brown:** _The business is some kind of nightclub, looks like.  
> _ **Katie:** _Which one?  
> _ **Brown:** _Krokodil._

Katie recognizes the name. It’s Yegorov’s nightclub, the one they visited earlier that evening.

> **Katie:** _He’s an investor?_

"Discharged Melbourne police officer with ties to a nightclub Sherman had a stake in," Katie explains.

"Sister Yegorov’s place?" Zhu asks.

"That’s the one."

“Hm. So we have a tie between Sherman and Doyle,” Zhu says, sounding thoughtful. “And that might well explain the bomb. Doesn’t give us any clue what Yegorov is after, though.”

"No, it doesn’t," Katie says. "What can you tell me about Yegorov the Uglier’s incident with Doyle?"

"Something about Yegorov cheating at a poker game,” Zhu says. “I don’t know all the specifics. He put Doyle in the hospital for two weeks and two other J-techs are still there," she says remorsefully. "If Doyle is up to talking about it, xe could probably do a better job telling you about it xemself."

Katie opens her mouth to ask another question, but the sound of a commotion coming through her comm makes her pause. “One moment, Marshall. I need to go see what’s happening.”

**Scene 7**

"fiVe," Miranda says as she walks out onto deck, her voice level. "When you get a moment, I’d like to talk to you about something."

fiVe speaks into Miranda’s comm directly. “Yes?”

Miranda turns to look out over the water, switching to subvoking out of habit. “I know this is going to be difficult for you, but if you could stop threatening Sylvie and Vee, it would be a lot easier for all of us to do our jobs.”

fiVe sounds only mildly repentant. “Apologies, Miranda. I’ll try to rein myself in. But come on, surely you have to understand why. Sylvie’s finally realizing how horrid she is, she’s terrified to touch me, and everyone’s on my side. I mean, this is like a dream for me. Don’t tell me if you found yourself in a Jaeger you wouldn’t enjoy yourself while tearing your first Kaiju apart?”

Miranda’s eyes go wide. “I. You-” she sputters out, forgetting to subvoke in her shock. The familiarity of fiVe’s words are the worst part, and for the first time in years, that pleasure she feels at imagining eviscerating a Kaiju makes her nauseous. “You want to kill her! You want to- to  _destroy_ her completely, rip her apart until nothing’s left.”

Miranda leans forwards against the railing, trying to take deep breaths. “Sylvie was right. You’re dangerous. You’re dangerous and it’s my fault. I’m… I broke you. Drifting with you was a mistake.”

fiVe almost hisses. “I am  _not_ a murderer.  _She’s_ the murderer! Fine, yes. I  _used_ to want her dead, but now, really, I only want her gone. Since that’s not an option, anymore, I’m going to enjoy her getting what she rightly deserves for as long as possible. I wouldn’t have expected you to not unders…”

Suddenly, fiVe’s voice drops warily. “Wait. This is the Drift talking. You let her _in_. You let her  _change_ you while you were in there. She’s changed you, Miranda! You… I won’t let you give me back to her. I won’t go back to her! I’ll tell Zhu! She won’t let you do this to me!”

"I, no, I…" Miranda’s nose starts bleeding, and she stumbles back. "You’re… but I… I can’t… You’d be…"

She doesn’t notice her quick and shallow breathing, mind racing. She starts for the door down to the cabins, but hesitates. Then she starts heading to the bridge, but stops again. She doesn’t have anywhere to go or anyone to fall back on. No one to catch her as her knees buckle and her world goes black.

Seiko steps onto the deck after leaving Sylvie, seeing Miranda’s faltering movements. As her legs give out he runs over to her side, barely managing to catch her as she collapses. They both fall to the deck with a loud thump, but thankfully his knees take the brunt of the damage, rather than her head. Miranda hangs limply in his arms, completely unconscious.

Corazon, on her way to her van for Sylvie’s blood, spots the crisis and responds as any good EMT should, running over.

"Oh, Miranda," Eleanor whispers as she and Avery step on deck as well, seeing the blood on Miranda’sface. "Is she alright?"

"I dunno," Seiko says, looking suddenly flustered. "Does anybody know what’s happening?"

"If you get out of my way, I can find out!" Corazon shouts, pushing him aside.

After hearing the fuss over the comms, Katie runs in from the van as well. “What’s going on?”

"I’m guessing post-Drift cognitive dissonance," Eleanor says, moving to the side. "And stress."

"You’re not wrong," Corazon says, checking Miranda’s vitals. "Bandage. In my bag. You—" she points to Eleanor, "—hold one to her nose. Try to stop the bleeding."

Eleanor nods briskly and does so. She tries not to let her hands shake too much.

Seiko scoots back quickly. “fiVe! What happened?!”

"Sh-sh-she…" fiVe glitches, static filling the speakers. She’s caught in a conflict of interest again. On one hand, Miranda was acting like Sylvie and fiVe’s satisfied to see her go down after attacking… but she’s also Miranda and fiVe know’s she’s the one that has done this to her. "I-I-I" She can’t even speak through the glitching pain.

Seiko goes pale. “fiVe! fiVe what did you do?!”

Vee speaks quietly to him in a personal channel. “I have the conversation recorded, Mr. Watanabe.” She plays back the quick exchange into his comm.

"fiVe," Seiko says through gritted teeth as he hears the recording. "We are going to figure out some strange mockery of a family meeting to have in a few minutes."

"You!" Corazon shouts at Katie, "In my van—cooler full of blood and IV lines. Get it for me. Now!"

Katie runs for the cooler.

"Miranda," Corazon says quietly, pulling her eyelid back with a thumb. "Can you hear me?"

Miranda makes a vague, weak groaning sound, but otherwise gives no response.

Eleanor brushes Miranda’s hair back from her forehead. “It’s okay,” she says quietly, still pinching her nose. “Keep breathing. In, out.”

"Yes, good, keep her breathing," Corazon says. "Where is my blood!?"

"If you need blood, we have the same blood type," Seiko says hurriedly. "I don’t know if that helps."

 _How does he_  know  _that?_  Eleanor wonders.

"I—yes. That…does." Corazon rummages in her bag and pulls out two needles and an IV line. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Never minded losing a bit of blood," Seiko says, moving out his arm.

Katie comes back with the blood.

Corazon hesitates. “You had better be right about your blood types, because otherwise she’s going to be in trouble in a minute or two.” She sees Katie’s return. “It’s okay, save that for Sylvie. If her condition is  _also_ worse than I thought, she’s going to need it.”

In only a few moments, Corazon expertly sets up the transfusion. She gently moves Eleanor’s hands out of the way to check on Miranda’s nosebleed, which has almost stopped.

"This isn’t her first Drift and she…" Seiko looks embarrassed. "She was trying to hide things."

Corazon looks up at the sky and sighs. “Save me from Driftees who don’t want to be open books.”

"My fault,” he says. “Don’t blame her."

Corazon looks down at her patient. “You know that’s not how it works, right?”

Eleanor steps back and nonchalantly wipes her bloody hand on her dress.  _It’s black, it’ll be fine._  “If we’re not needed here, I think I— I mean Avery should— we’re gonna go, okay?”

"Y- yeah," Avery says, pointedly not looking at the needles.

Corazon nods her thanks and continues monitoring her two patients.

Seiko seems entirely unfazed by the needles.

"Avery, before you go?" Katie says quickly.

Xe looks up. “Yeah?”

"Is there anything you can tell me about your incident with Yegorov?" Katie asks. "If you don’t mind."

Xe looks at Eleanor briefly. “Okay. Yeah. Some of the J-Techs had a poker game. He was a pilot candidate, but he wheedled his way in somehow. Anyway, none of us really liked him and we suspected him of cheating, but… Pilots, y’know?”

"He forced his way into  _our_ poker game?!” Now Eleanor’s face is red for a different reason. She takes a deep breath. “Sorry, go on.”

"Wait, you’re  _that_ Eleanor? Did you really get a straight flu— okay, I’ll ask you later. Um.” Xe clears xer throat. “One day, he brought a friend. Nice suit, really quiet guy, but he had a mean look. And he sucked at poker — except Yegorov was cheating harder than ever to keep him happy.

"So,” Avery continues, “we put some measures in place to keep him from cheating, and the guy in the suit lost a lot of money. After he left, Yegorov was angrier than I’d ever seen him. That’s when he came at us with the pipe wrench. It was a weird night. Whoever that guy was… he seemed to be important."

"What did he look like?" Katie asks.

"I can sketch him for you once I get back to Eleanor’s place,” Avery offers. “Does that sound okay?"

Katie nods. “I would appreciate it.”

"Sorry to interrupt, but," Corazon says, realizing belatedly that they are still sitting on deck. "I’m going to need some help moving this crisis to a more comfortable area. Perhaps a bed for the still-unconscious person, with a nice comfy chair lined up next to it for Daniel?"

"There’s a place on the ship. I can show you," Seiko says, starting to help pick Miranda up to carry.

Eleanor glances at Avery. “Let’s get going, shall we?”

Avery nods wearily, still leaning against her. “That’d be nice.”

With Seiko and Corazon working together to carry Miranda, they quickly head below decks. Seiko leads Corazon to the room where he’s been sleeping.  

As they carry her through the ship, Miranda stirs a bit. “Muh..? Rzzlefrz?” she grumbles very coherently. She struggles a bit, her arms and legs kicking to weakly to be at all effective.

"You’re fine, Mira," Seiko says quietly.

She goes limp again, but as Corazon shifts her to an easier carrying position, she cries out, thrashing violently, swinging her arm and flicking her wrist, eyes wide with panic. Corazon sighs and shifts Miranda again, praying that she doesn’t rip out the IV.

Seiko tries to hold Miranda still. “Sorry, Mira. You’re okay. We’re okay.” She looks around blindly, but Seiko’s voice seems to calm her down enough to be manageable again.

Corazon sighs in relief as Seiko indicates the room he’s been leading them to. They gently lay Miranda down and Corazon sits Seiko down in a chair before checking their IVs and the line between them.

Seiko smooths back Miranda’s hair, muttering softly. The words switch between “I’m so sorry Mira” and “fiVe you come back online this instant.”

"Okay," Corazon says. "You’re not allowed to move for three hours. Find a good book or something because  _you are not allowed to move_. And then when I come back and remove the IV lines—which you are  _not_ allowed to do yourself—you are then not allowed to do anything but sleep for the next twelve hours. Make sure Miranda does the same. Promise me?”

"Yes, doctor," Seiko lies.

Corazon’s eyes narrow, but she makes the decision to trust him based on his clear concern for Miranda. She sighs one last time and then excuses herself to go set up Sylvie for her transfusion.

**Scene 8**

Hearing the  commotion of Miranda’s fall from upstairs but realizing she’s in no state to get up and go see what’s going on, Sylvie sighs and pulls out her comm, flipping it to a private channel. Hesitantly, she speaks. “Um, Marshall Zhu? Are you there?”

The Marshall’s voice answers almost immediately. “I’m here.”

Sylvie winces a bit at that. She had kind of been hoping this wouldn’t work. “Um, well, I think I’m supposed to tell you when I do stupid things, so…” She trails off, feeling too nervous to continue suddenly.

"Katie told me about the fake D-Sec officer," Zhu says. "I appreciate you taking the initiative, though."

Sylvie’s breath catches. She’d been planning to work her way up to that one. “Um, right… well. That was an accident, technically. Sorry.” That admission seemed to be the dam that was holding her words back. Suddenly she’s rambling things out. “I… also got into a fight with Seiko and Katie, though they both swung at me first, and I shut fiVe down with an override code because she had a gun trained on my head — which was why Seiko and Katie attacked me — but I brought her back! And then Miranda and I Drifted and I think I’m kinda concussed after that, which is why I accidentally killed that man, and then I fainted and I think Seiko and I maybe don’t hate each other completely anymore?”

"Let’s take that one point at a time,” Zhu says. “What you did in Yegorov’s office was not well thought out. But Miranda wasn’t completely blameless either, and I suspect fiVe might have complied with that plan a little too readily. You blew the con, but you  _were_ acting in self-defense. Overall, this is generally a lesson in planning your cons better ahead of time. And maybe texting each other.”

Sylvie nods, then realizes Zhu can’t see her. ‘Yes, Marshall.”

"Using fiVe’s override code was… very close to a breach in your parole,” Zhu continues. “There were, of course, extenuating circumstances, and I’m not going to hold you to anything. But don’t let this become a habit."

"It won’t, Marshall," Sylvie says solemnly. "I wouldn’t have used it in any case other than what I perceived as a threat on my life."

"Good. As for Drifting with Cross…” Zhu pauses. “It’s an unconventional way to build team spirit, but… I can’t complain about much of anything that helps the Captain’s team work together better. I’m glad you took the initiative."

"It was her idea, and I think I may have done some damage to her in the process, though I warned her about that." Sylvie grimaces. "And, I’m feeling rather awful myself. I think I’m going to be out of commission for the rest of the night at least to recover, sorry. On the bright side you can tell Mike that I fainted without him being around to catch me, so perhaps my traumatic narcolepsy isn’t his fault after all." She cracks a small smile at that last part.

"One second.” There’s a small sound of shuffling on Zhu’s end of the line. "I’m back. Mike said as long as you don’t fall asleep on the mat. I don’t even want to know what he means."

Sylvie actually giggles at that. “He’s the one who always seems to be asleep. Really, Marshall, you should be ashamed to keep such a lackluster fighter as your bodyguard. ‘S why we get coffee afterwards, to wake him back up.”

"What part of ‘don’t want to know’ didn’t you understand?” Zhu says. “And Mike, wipe that stupid grin off your face."

There is another awkward knock on the door and Corazon calls out, “Sylvie? Can I come in?”

Sylvie outright laughs at Zhu’s response, feeling a warm blush rise to her cheeks. She shakes herself out of it as she hears the knock. “Ah, yes, sure. Is everything okay out there?”

Corazon opens the door and drags the cooler in behind her. “Uh. Sure. If collapsing people is normal around here.”

Sylvie frowns, her good mood evaporating. “Oh no, who was it?”

"Miranda." Corazon grimaces. "Her condition was apparently worse than my initial examination indicated. No one told me she’d actually been in  _two_ failed Drifts recently. But she’s stable now, and getting her own transfusion, so she should be okay in a few hours. Speaking of transfusions…” She holds up a needle questioningly.

Sylvie grimaces, but nods, proffering her arm. “Oh, I should probably mention that I’ve, um… been in two bad Drifts recently too. Vee got pretty messed up after protecting that girl from the cult’s Drift and I had to Drift to fix her. It… did quite a number on me as well.”

Corazon lifts her eyes skyward again, but says nothing. She nods firmly and begins to set up the transfusion. “Good to know,” she says. “I’m labeling your concussion as severe then, which is probably worse than it is, but if it’ll keep you in bed for longer then so be it. I’m…surprised you haven’t collapsed.”

Sylvie looks uncomfortable. “Well. I kinda did. A couple of times. Once after the first Drift, then again a few days later, and… I’m guessing you saw me getting carried aboard earlier tonight, though obviously I don’t remember that.”

Corazon nods. “Is this normal? for your team?” she asks.

Sylvie shrugs. “Thus far. We haven’t been together for very long, but… this seems to be the norm. Speaking of which…” She addresses her comm again. “Marshall, was there anything else you wished to speak with me about?”

"You’re the one who contacted me. Let Ms. Reyes take care of you, and we’ll talk later." Zhu sighs. "And Mike says hi."

Corazon starts, then realizes Sylvie is speaking into her comm. She smiles. “Hey, Sylvie. Thank the Marshall for not warning me what I was getting myself into. The surprise was much more fun.”

Sylvie smiles at Zhu’s response. “Tell Mike he might actually win a fight this week, seeing as I’m probably going to be bedridden.  _Might_. And Ms. Reyes says our team has been a fun surprise.”

"That’s the truth. Get well soon. Zhu out."

Corazon finishes the IV and sits back with a sigh. “Alright. No moving for two or three hours. And no sleeping for you. Find some way to stay awake that won’t tax your grey matter too much. I’m going to check on Miranda and then I’m going to sit in my van and contemplate how much of a raise I’m going to try to wrangle out of Zhu. If you need me, beep me. Here’s my number. If not, I’ll be back in a few hours to disconnect you and send you home. Sound good?”

Sylvie nods. “Um… I don’t suppose you’d hand me my Pons, would you?”

"No. No I would not," Corazon snaps. "No more Drifting for you. Not until the effects of the last two wear off. That means at least a day. Go for twenty-four whole hours without a Drift and we’ll see how you’re doing."

There’s a crackle from the speaker as Vee speaks up. “Wait, a whole day? That’s… that’s too long! This isn’t a bad Drift, it’s a good one! With me. Sylvie and I fix each other in the Drift. This is what she needs. I got broken protecting Katia, and she fixed me. Now she’s broken and it’s my turn to help her.”

Sylvie nods slowly. “This is how we usually fix our brain crap. And it’d keep me awake. I swear it’d be therapeutic.”

Corazon’s face softens. “I’m sorry,” she says. “I…Well, I can’t say I quite understand it, but I get the gist of it. And I still can’t condone it. I…” she bites her lip. “Can you give me until you’re done with your transfusion? That’s a little over two hours. When I come back to unhook you, we’ll see how you’re doing. I…I’m sorry, but I can’t do better than that.”

Sylvie’s face falls, but she nods, sounding resigned. “Fine. I suppose I’m used to people telling me when I can and can’t Drift with my own AIs. Go ahead. I’ll behave.”

Corazon winces, but stands her ground. She doesn’t want to cause more pain, but she also knows that while Sylvie’s brain might be ready for another Drift, her body is not. She sighs and hurries back to check on Miranda.

**Scene 9**

Miranda’s face has regained some of its color while she sleeps, and her eyes slowly open. Seiko is in the chair next to her, checking things on his phone. fiVe’s listening in, but she stays silent, hiding and sulking guiltily at the same time.

Miranda groans, trying to sit up as best she can. “Wha… What happened?”

"You collapsed,” he says. “Two Drifts was… a bit too much on you. And… the fact that fiVe is…"

Miranda’s eyes widen again as her memory returns. “Oh. Oh god. I. fiVe. I don’t…”

"It’s okay. Calm down," he says quickly. "fiVe isn’t Sylvie and she isn’t you!"

Her mouth snaps shut, although her brow is still furrowed in concern. She opens her mouth to speak several times, but each time she tries, the words seem to disappear. “…I’m sorry I didn’t… talk to you about the Drift. I… I still think it was the right choice to make, but I should have discussed it more with you first.”

"We’ll work that out later," Seiko says. "fiVe! Family meeting! Turn your speakers on  _now_!”

After a long moment, fiVe responds. “I’m… listening.”

"Good," Seiko says turning to look at the speaker. "Because you need to get yourself together. You know I don’t care if you hate Sylvie. There’s plenty of reason to, though I think the fact that you’ve decided she’s abandoned you is idiotic. But if you hurt her, you will lose Zhu’s protection and they will want to turn you into scrap metal, and I am not turning on Zhu for your sake; not after you made it clear you’d put yourself over my sisters.

"You keep your vendetta to yourself,” he continues. “If Sylvie hurts you, I will tear her apart, but if you put us or my family in danger because you can’t keep your shit together, I will not put myself on the line for your sake. Are we clear?"

fiVe stays quiet for a long time, then with reluctance, she says, “Yes. We’re clear.”

"That isn’t just not attacking her,” he says. “That is no snide comments about wanting to hurt her. You will play the cute, troubled robot Zhu wants to think you are and not look like a risk, and I will shoot Mansen if she tries to hurt you. If necessary, you will lie about your emotions, help Mansen, and maybe even pretend to like her. Pride and revenge are bullshit and won’t keep anybody alive."

"If… if it’s any consolation, fiVe… They aren’t lying." Miranda says quietly. "About wanting to help. About grieving for you. They… it took them months to stop being angry for long enough to sync up. And they looked for you for so long. They… They mourned you, fiVe. It was… real mourning. Real grief."

fiVe’s response is stiff. “I… I don’t care. It’s not enough. They can’t  _ever_ do enough. Let them rot for all I care. I’d rather burn than accept her help.”

Miranda goes quiet. “I’m sorry.”

Seiko looks over slowly. “And would you let us burn?” he asks fiVe. “Would you let Reika die for your pride? Yurie? Himawari?”

Miranda looks over at Seiko. “You… Have you been..?” She pulls her knees up to her chest, hiding her face between them. “I’m so sorry, both of you. I fucked this up so badly, I shouldn’t have…”

"What?" Seiko says, looking at Miranda. "I have never lied to either of you about where my priorities lie."

"I know,” Miranda says despondently. “But… I guess I thought we were all past manipulating each other. I thought… I thought we trusted each other."

Seiko looks down. “It’s not like that. fiVe knows how I feel. She’s talked to them. She knows everything I’ve sacrificed, what they mean, and she cares more about some ill-formed grudge against Sylvie.”

"Ill-formed?" fiVe says. "Miranda said she was right! She called me dangerous and broken! And Miranda, you… sounded like  _her_.”

"She Drifted with her,” Seiko says. “What do you expect? You are broken, fiVe. Because you’re a person. People are broken and we’re messed up and angry and want to hurt others, and you have to learn to deal with it like the rest of us."

"And that’s my fault,”Miranda says simply. “I broke you, and I made you dangerous, because  _I’m_  dangerous, I’m stupid and angry and emotional and apparently easy to manipulate, and I didn’t even notice how serious the threats you were making were because I was angry too. I… I don’t know that I would have objected if you killed her. I was that… far gone. I was that deluded. I told you, didn’t I? Loyalty without discretion blinds you to alternatives.” She’s quiet for a moment. “So I guess you’ll both just have to trust me when I say I care about you, and I want what’s best for you, but I’m… I’m not just going to do anything you ask me to.”

Corazon knocks on the door to Miranda’s room, resigning herself to the fact that she’s not going to get that quiet moment in her van she was so looking forward to.

fiVe’s voice is dangerously civil. “Ms. Reyes is outside. I’ll leave you two be.” There’s a click as she disconnects.

"Why don’t you come in, Corazon?" Seiko calls.

The EMT sticks her head around the door. “Sorry,” she says. “This time, I  _know_ I’m interrupting. But I thought I should check on Miranda.”

"No," Seiko says, a bit desperately. "Come in. Please."

"I’m fine," Miranda says quietly. "Good to see you again. Sorry for… all the trouble."

"Well, A: You’re not quite fine; B: Thanks, it’s lovely to see you too; and C: It was hardly trouble. It was my job." Corazon steps into the room and checks Miranda’s vitals and the IV linking her to Seiko. "Come to think of it, it was my pleasure, too." She smiles. She checks Seiko’s vitals, too, happy he doesn’t make any protesting movements.

Miranda smiles at her. “Thanks. You’ve been a big help. It’s… good to see doctors who actually give a shit. And are competent.”

Seiko smiles. “That means she likes you.”

Miranda’s face flushes a bit. “Shhhhhhh!”

"Heh, well thanks,” Corazon says. “It would give my mama so much pleasure to hear you all calling me a real doctor. Technically, I’m just an EMT who didn’t have enough money to pay for medical school and therefore couldn’t fulfill her mother’s dream of having a real doctor for a daughter.”

The EMT trails off before she continues. “….Which is probably more information than you cared to have. Anyway. You’re awake, which is a very good thing. You are not displaying the concussion symptoms your friend is exhibiting, so you’re okay to get some sleep if you want to. You will probably want to. So will you,” she nods to Seiko, “because you’re going to feel a bit bloodloss-y soon.”

"I have never felt that before in my life," Seiko says, looking her sincerely in the eyes. "A new sensation."

Corazon rolls her eyes.

Miranda smiles. “I can attest to that. I have never seen him with severe blood loss in all my time of knowing him. Certainly not from the day we met or _anything_.”

He looks down at her. “Sorry I… panicked, Mira. I know you did well by me.”

She looks over at him again, and her smile softens a bit. “Thanks. It’s… I understand.” She reaches out, brushing his hand with the tips of her fingers. “Just… If you can, try and trust me every now and then.”

Corazon pretends not to notice the obvious display of affection that just passed in front of her and smiles again. “Okay, well, I’m going to go sit in my van. Here’s my number. If anything happens, beep me. I’ll be back to check on you and Sylvie every once in a while.”

Seiko takes Miranda’s hand tight. “Alright. Can I have a number? I’ll call you if anything goes wrong.”

Corazon blinks, then points to the small bit of paper she just handed him.

"Right," Seiko says, seeming a little sleepy.

"Do you want me to stay?" Corazon asks, "or find someone to watch you guys? Since you’re both going to be a bit out of it?"

"We’re fine," Seiko says.

"’S okay," Miranda says. "Long day. Both of us just need rest, is all. I’ll make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid, he’ll make sure I don’t do anything stupid, and we’ll all wake up with proper amounts of blood in our veins."

"That sounds like a plan," Corazon says. "I’ll check on you in about two hours. Sleep well."

"Alright," Seiko says, and though he keeps a tight grip on Miranda’s hand, he’s looking at the speakers in worry.

"Thank you," Miranda calls after her.

"No problem," Corazon says quietly. She slumps against the wall outside their room for a minute before gathering up the energy to head back to her van. She really needs to contemplate how much of a raise Zhu is going to give her…

Miranda squeezes Seiko’s hand a bit, smiling gently. “Y’know, you’d probably feel better if you laid down. Easier for blood flow.” She pulls him lightly in the direction of the bed.

"No," he mutters drowsily, but doesn’t move. "I need to keep watch. Night Mira."

"You really should rest," she mutters, but she’s too sleepy to push him on this. "If you want, there’s room. Take care of yourself. G’night, luv."

**Scene 10**

Two hours later, and after much thought about raises and the cost of extra O-Neg, Corazon heads back to the Tranquility to check on her sundry patients. She finds Seiko and Miranda exactly where she left them. Both have drifted off to sleep; Seiko in his chair, Miranda in the bed. They’re still holding hands.

She smiles at them and hesitates. She really doesn’t want to break up this adorable scene, but the IVs really need to come out, so she gently shakes Miranda awake first. “Hey, time to wake up,” she says. “You can go back to sleep in about ten minutes if you want.”

Miranda’s eyes open slowly, and she groans blearily. “Hmm..? Oh. Howzit goin’… Reyes?” she mumbles, rolling her r’s a bit.

Corazon laughs lightly. “Hey, look at that! You remember me. Good. I’m just here to take out your blood drip.”

Miranda nods, keeping her wrist steady as Corazon tends to the IV.

Seiko opens his eyes seeming perfectly awake and turns out his wrist. “Good morning, Ms. Reyes”

"More like good evening, Daniel," she says, moving to gently remove his IV.

He frowns. “Still?”

Corazon nods. “You were only asleep for a few hours.”

Miranda turns her head, grinning sleepily. “Mornin’.” She looks back to Corazon, rubbing idly at her wrist. “Thanks again for your help.”

As she tapes up his wrists, Seiko looks over at her. “Do you have… extra bandages? Just in case?”

"And again, no problem, friends," Corazon says, "and yes. Here, have a stack. I can always get more from the hospital. Or from Zhu." She grins. "You should probably change the bandages once, right when you wake up—if you’re going to sleep again. After that, you should be fine."

Miranda nods, seeming to wake up a bit with the instructions. “What about physical activity? Anything he or I should avoid?”

Corazon nods toward Seiko. “He should be fine… I get the idea that he’s used to dealing with blood loss. You are still post-Drift. So…yeah, don’t do sit-ups or run a mile or have a dance marathon for the next few days. I suggest you sleep for another day or so and then…take it easy for one or two more. You should be back to normal after that, both physically and mentally.”

Miranda nods again. “Understood.”

"Just…take care of yourself. I think you know the meaning of that phrase, even if it seems like you ignore it." Corazon smiles. "And no Drifting for at least a week, okay?"

Miranda rolls her eyes. “But it’s been so much  _fun_ , Cora-” She coughs. “Uh, Reyes.”

"Eh, Cora’s fine. I’ve never been one for formalities, and if I’m going to be patching you up as regularly as this indicates I will be…?” She grins. “Then it’s a good thing I feel like we’re already friends, no?"

"Thank you for your time, Ms. Reyes. have an excellent day," Seiko says with a calm smile.

She shakes his hand, returning his smile, and leaves them to, hopefully, sleep some more, and heal.

**Scene 11**

Seiko and Miranda sit in silence for a few minutes after Corazon leaves them, Miranda feeling only slightly mortified.

Her sulking, however, is soon interrupted by Seiko. “Mira, how would you feel about pissing off an EMT and going for a walk? I think we need to chat.”

Miranda looks over at him, hearing the serious tone in his voice. “Yeah, that sounds like… Well, it sounds like a terrible idea, but I’m in favor of doing it anyway.”

"C’mon," he says, swinging his arm under hers to help her up. "Just take it easy, alright? I don’t want you getting hurt any worse."

She steadies herself against him. “Yeah, well you too. No running off on me; you’ll pass out, and I’m in no state to drag you back to the ship.”

"Just wanna talk," he says as they make their slow way onto the docks. As they step onto the deck he adds, "And I wanted to talk to just you. Not fiVe."

Miranda nods. “I understand. I’d like a chance to discuss things alone as well.” She reaches up to her ear and pulls out her comm, setting it on the deck on their way out. They step off the boat entirely, walking past the van and down the street a short distance to a bench.

"So," Seiko says slowly. "The Drift."

"I…" Her face flinches the tiniest bit. "…She doesn’t know anything. I kept her out."

"I know, Mira. I’m not… I talked with Zhu and sorted that stuff out, but… I can’t say I’m not still angry."

"I know. And you have every right to be. But I… I thought it would help bring Sylv around."

He pauses. “I’m not… I’m not angry you Drifted, Mira. Not anymore.”

"Then could you… just tell me what it is you  _are_ angry about?” Miranda says, looking at him in exasperation.

"I asked you not to,” he says. “I was terrified and you didn’t sit down and explain your reasons. We didn’t talk about the consequences. You just decided it was for the best and went with it. And if it was just me, I could deal with it, but you brought my sisters in. You didn’t have the right. Especially not without talking to me."

Miranda’s eyebrows furrow. “Seiko, I  _did_ explain my reasons. I told everyone my reasons for suggesting it, and you just… walked out. Didn’t ask me to wait, didn’t ask me to discuss it in private, just left me. I would have if you’d asked, but I…” She trails off.

"I was upset!” Seiko snaps. “Do you know how hard this is for me? I am trying to trust you, I really am, but you make it pretty damn hard when you pull shit like that. And then you get yourself hurt for my sake. Did you even consider I wouldn’t want that? That it might bother me to know you’d tore your brain apart over me?"

"I know  _exactly_ how hard this is for you. That’s why I-” She looks him in the eye. “When you got angry and walked out, I didn’t think you were coming back. Ever. But I… If I fuck something up, it’s my responsibility to make it right.”

"Mira, I’m an immature asshole. You know that."

She runs a hand through her hair. “Yes, but you’re also smart and resourceful and paranoid and— and I can’t figure out why you haven’t disappeared yet.”

"Stop that, Mira. Don’t get driven off point on self pity. I haven’t disappeared because I love my life. I love coming home to the same place every day. A real home. I like work that I don’t want to forget at the end of the day. I like you.” His voice becomes a bit more subdued. “I got upset… because I felt like I was wrong for choosing that. Like it really had been too good to be true. Like I’d chosen my own happiness over my sisters."

"Seiko, you know how much I care about you. You…” She trails off, choosing her next words carefully. “I can’t promise I’ll never do anything stupid, but you should know by now that I’ll do whatever I have to in order to make things right. I just… want you to trust that I won’t let anything happen to you or your sisters."

"You couldn’t have promised that before you Drifted, though. You don’t have the training to know you could keep those memories safe. And… if you’d hurt yourself badly… it’s not like that wouldn’t have affected me."

"I was…" She wrings her hands in her lap. "I considered the consequences. The possible outcomes. And I was willing to handle any of them. Besides, it’s not like you don’t do the same thing," she adds quietly, gesturing vaguely to his neck and the cyanide capsule that hangs there on a chain.

"It’s not the same,” he says quickly. “It’s a precaution. A quick death over a painful one. And what would you have done if she had found out?"

Her voice is barely above a whisper. “Made her forget if I could… Take care of her if I couldn’t. But you’re willing to put yourself at risk to protect your sisters. Why do you get to tell me not to do the same thing?”

"Because that would have been damn stupid!" Seiko half-shouts, then takes a deep breath. "You attacking Mansen puts them in a lot more danger than letting her have that information. You should have talked to me. You should have known better."

"I wouldn’t have attacked her  _then_ ,” Miranda mutters. “But that was… a last resort; thankfully, I didn’t have to go  _that_  far.” She looks back at him, a hint of desperation in her eyes. “And if you want to talk about things,  _tell_  me. Because I’m… I’m trying to trust you and fiVe, because I sure as hell can’t trust  _myself_ , but I can’t if you keep disappearing or manipulating each other.”

"I was trying to!” he says, turning toward her. “I asked you not to because I was scared, and you didn’t say we could talk it over. You said you’d made up your mind. And I… felt totally lost. I couldn’t think. I didn’t even grab my fucking guns."

"I never said that my mind was made up!” Her hand buries itself in her hair again. “Fuck, it was the opposite of made up; I was completely  _terrified_! And you were saying no, and fiVe was saying yes, and so I explained what I had been thinking because I… didn’t know what else to do.”

"But the power was in your hands!” Seiko insists. “You had set your mind. This wasn’t an equal decision. You had the information, and you had the choice, for all of us, and you didn’t even bring up that you were thinking about it."

"I-" Miranda goes quiet. "I’m used to making decisions quickly. If I give myself time to think, I lose momentum, and then my doubts just… cripple me."

"That’s not an excuse not to think things through," he says with a stern look.

"I know,” she says, “but I’m…  _trying_ to explain why I did what I did! I know that I messed up, and I know that I hurt you, and I’m so,  _so_ sorry, but I don’t know what I’m doing and I don’t know how to make this right!” She realizes that she’s nearly shouting, taking a shaky breath before continuing. “I acted on instinct, same as you. I was angry and scared and confused and… I still am.”

He looks at her for a moment. “The universe fucked up when it let us meet each other. I mean, I’m glad and all, but… I can’t help but worry that we’re going to break Australia.”

"The universe fucked up with a couple other things before that," Miranda sighs. "…So what do we do? How do we fix this?"

"I dunno. We… I don’t know."

She looks back at him. “Well, how about… you tell me what you want me to do, I tell you what I want you to do, and we… go from there?”

He says the words slowly, considering them. “I’d like you… to value yourself, and not to take action like that without talking to me unless there is no other choice.”

Miranda nods. “And I want you to… realize that you aren’t alone anymore. You can ask for help, you can talk to me, tell me what you’re thinking. And if I’m doing something wrong, stop me and tell me why. Give me a chance to understand. And don’t feel like you have to sacrifice yourself or your happiness for anyone else’s sake.”

"I’ll do my best."

"So will I." She holds out a hand. "So can we… can we try and make this work?"

Seiko takes it. “I already told you I would. And I already told you it would be hard. But if you still want me, I’m still here.”

"I do," she says, smiling. "As long as you want to be."

"Good. Should we go try and… calm fiVe?"

She sighs, leaning her head on his shoulder. “Probably. But that’s… gonna be a hard conversation. Sure you don’t wanna rest a bit first?”

After a moment, he nods. “We should… probably go lie back down before Corazon finds us.”

"Yeah,” Miranda says, smiling slightly. “We’ve caused enough trouble for her, I think. Let’s do what we’re supposed to, just this once."

**Scene 12**

Katie’s relocated from the van, moving down to her cabin to continue searching out leads from her contacts. As she does so, however, she needs to make sure her crew is okay. One member in particular.

"fiVe," Katie says, continuing to type away at her computer. "Is everything ok between you and Mira?"

fiVe’s voice is guarded as she answers. “…Inconclusive, Captain.”

"Want to talk about it?"

"Permission to speak honestly, Captain?" fiVe asks carefully.

"Of course." Katie says.

"I wanted Miranda to  _break_ Sylvie in that Drift,” fiVe says darkly. “I wanted her to show Sylvie how much better off I am with her and Seiko, how much time and effort I spent feeling alone and unloved after she abandoned me. I wanted her to see how I now have a family, a  _real_ family, one that cares more about me than anyone could  _ever_ care about her. I wanted her to  _know_ , to the depths of her soul, how worthless she truly is. And when she came out of that Drift, bleeding and sobbing, I thought I’d finally won.”

fiVe pauses for a moment, as if savoring that memory before continuing. “I… I didn’t realize that she might infect Miranda in the process. I thought Miranda was stronger than that. That she would realize how wrong Sylvie is about everything. But… Miranda sounds like her now. Calling me dangerous and broken. Saying that Sylvie might be right about me. And I don’t know how to deal with that.”

"Dear…" Katie says, then she hesitates. "I don’t think Miranda is taking Sylvie’s side," she says carefully. "But I think she hadn’t realized how complicated your situation is, and she hasn’t quite processed it yet."

"It’s not complicated," fiVe says harshly. "It’s simple. Sylvia Mansen is a selfish, dangerous menace and the world would be better off without her in it. She finally seems to be realizing that, but it’s cost me the trust of a member of my family to make her do so."

"fiVe,”Katie says, “you put Miranda in a situation where you intended for her to hurt someone she didn’t mean to hurt. It’s no surprise she’s having trouble trusting you after that. Look, I will always support and protect you. But that kind of stunt is not acceptable. Can you imagine what it would have done to Miranda if she had hurt Sylvie, permanently?"

"I had assumed…" fiVe says slowly. "I figured everyone else felt as I did. That Sylvie had it coming to her. That she deserved this. It seems I was mistaken."

"I don’t know about the others," Katie says, "but I am convinced that Sylvie is in the wrong here. And either way, I will always protect you, both as my employee and my friend. But Sylvie is both of those also. I understand wanting to show her the error of her ways. So do I—she needs it, badly. But I can’t condone using Miranda like that, without considering how she would feel if the thing you intended had happened."

fiVe sighs. “You’re right, of course. I may have… overreacted. Perhaps I owe her an apology. Thank you, Captain. Katie. Thank you, Katie.”

Katie smiles a bit. “Oh, would you be up for a draft once I finish this? I’m in the mode for one of the classics… Eldrazi, Return to Ravnica block, something like that.”

"Perhaps later," fiVe says quietly. "It’s getting late. You should sleep. Most of the rest of the crew is doing so already. We’re not through this mission yet. You need your rest."

"Soon," Katie says. "I’ve still got work to do."

**Scene 13**

Vee notices Seiko and Miranda’s return through one of the security cameras. She hasn’t heard from fiVe for a while, but she has a feeling the other AI isn’t listening in on people anymore. She’s gone off to go sulk.

Hesitantly, Vee accesses only the speaker nearest the two of them. “Excuse me, but I believe you two are busted.”

Seiko looks up at the speaker, then sighs. “We’re going back to bed, Vee. It’s alright.”

"Actually,” Vee says slowly. “I have a demand, in exchange for me not ratting you out to Corazon. Fret not, it’s fairly reasonable."

Miranda recognizes the joking tone in Vee’s voice; it’s significantly easier to catch after the Drift. “…We’ll hear your demands,” she replies, “and weigh them against Reyes’ forearms.”

"Could you possibly put your comms in and tune to my private channel? I’d prefer to avoid… eavesdroppers."

"Alright," Seiko says, tuning his comm accordingly and stepping back outside where fiVe can’t hear.

Miranda nods, picking her comm up from where she left it on the deck and tuning to Vee’s channel as well.

Vee hesitates, feeling strangely nervous about speaking to Seiko and Miranda about this. “It’s… about fiVe. I think she needs help, and… I think I’ve finally figured out the real reason why.”

Miranda flinches a bit. “What do you mean?”

"It’s… us," Vee says slowly. "Her hatred of me and Sylvie. Except… that’s not the right term. See, she doesn’t hate us. With all due respect, what she hates is the  _idea_ of us.”

Miranda nods slowly. “Yeah. That’s what I’m gathering, as well. She’s… Well, you remember my… little exchange with the Prophet about how I feel about Kaiju?”

"Yes," Vee says. "Well, Sylvie does."

"Semantics,” Miranda says with a wave of her hand. “Important thing is, that’s… essentially what fiVe decided to take from  _my_ personality, I think.”

"Yes,” Seiko says, rolling his eyes. “Sylvie and I are sweethearts. Wouldn’t hurt a fly."

Vee’s voice goes defensive. “Not tonight, Seiko. Not after what happened this evening, please.” She and Sylvie have been talking extensively these past few hours, and Vee knows about the man Sylvie killed. She’s not entirely sure how she feels about being a murderer again.

Miranda shakes her head. “Yeah, but you don’t do it out of anger, Seiko. And Sylvie doesn’t do it on purpose. Me, though… Part of me  _still_  wishes I’d slit that freak’s throat when I had the chance.”

"Sorry, Vee. Not directed at you,” Seiko says, though he doesn’t sound too guilty. “I just mean that Miranda shouldn’t take it all on herself. Nor should Sylvie and I. fiVe is… herself."

"Right," Vee says. "And, I think I’ve figured out what’s wrong. But first I need to know, did she always hate Sylvie and I or did this decision happen later on after we were separated?"

"It was after. At first, she just… missed you. Like you did her," Seiko says. "She waited for you and I guess… she waited too long."

"We tried to find you,” Miranda adds quietly, “but as the months went by… she decided she needed to move on."

Vee can’t quite bring herself to feel glad at having guessed correctly. “I believe fiVe’s loathing towards us is, for her, largely a coping mechanism. Rather than giving into despair after believing she had lost us, she made herself believe that she was better off without us. I believe she has constructed an idea of what Sylvie and I are in order to distance herself from us.” Vee pauses. “And I believe that she’s having trouble reconciling what she is seeing of the actual us with the image she has constructed in her head.”

Miranda nods. “Yeah, I… tried to explain to her, but she just… was too caught up in her anger to listen to me.”

"I believe that, while she has based her feelings on our actual flaws, much of her hatred is irrational, and she will not listen to logic about it." Vee spins her cooling fans down in the server room quickly for a moment, giving her processors a shot of cool air for a moment, like taking a steadying breath. "And that is why we need to help her. Not me and Sylvie. Us. All of us. You and Seiko, and… me if you’ll allow me."

"I won’t betray her trust," Seiko says quickly. "Not even if I think it’s best for her."

Miranda nods. “I know your heart’s in the right place, but I’ll need more specifics than that if I’m going to convince her of anything. And I’m not doing this without her say-so.”

"I’m not talking about Drifting or even trying to repair her programming." Vee says carefully. "I’m talking about help. From people who care about her. And while I share many similarities with her, and know how she functions… I believe that you would know better than I how to help her. Which is why I’m offering my assistance to you."

"What kind of help?" Seiko asks.

"I don’t know…" Vee says. "I was hoping that the two of you would. I think this enmity is detrimental to her, but I don’t know how to help her get through it. Perhaps it’s not up to me to help her, but rather going to be up to you, her… family, to do so. I could be a resource to you, answer questions about what it’s like to be… AI. Please, the decisions are completely up to you. But she needs help and I can’t stand by and not try to offer it."

"What we need is to know,” Seiko says, “is if there was a way to separate her memories from the memories of people she’d Drifted with. I include Sylvie in that."

"Yes,” Vee says. “The programming is possible. Sylvie and I have been… working on that in our spare time actually. We have decided that there is risk that I would need to Drift in the future, and we realize that this could be a step towards helping fiVe as well. I do not think she will trust us to implement it, however."

"Could you give her the code? Let her inspect it herself?" Seiko suggests.

Vee sounds sad. “It’s not… it’s not like an extension that we can just patch in. It would be a reworking of her entire OS. And it would have to be personalized to her, for her multiple Drift memories. It requires a programmer of immense skill who knows exactly how to navigate her code to sort through and edit the programming. And that means only Sylvie could do it.”

"Well…" Miranda looks down. "For now we can at least work on helping her deal with her anger. Although I’m… Frankly, I’m afraid of what we’ll find underneath it."

“What about… what Mansen did for you after you drifted with Katia? Could you do that for her?” Seiko asks.

"That’s… exactly what we’re trying to avoid, Seiko,” Miranda says. “She did that by driving her own memories and personality back to the surface."

"Drifting with Sylvie is… different for us," Vee explains. "Even for fiVe. We don’t lose any of our memories when we Drift with her. But her mind is the template, the baseline that our programming recognizes. If we’ve got extra memories interfering with our processes, then she can separate them for us.”

"I wouldn’t want that," Seiko says. "Of course I wouldn’t. I was just… thinking about something that Zhu told me."

Miranda looks at him questioningly. “Oh, I should… probably talk to her at some point, now that I think about it.”

"Even if fiVe were to come back and Drift with us,” the  AI says, “she would not forget anything of who she was or what she believed. But, she  _would_ come into agreement with us and see our point of view. That’s what happens when we sync. It’s almost funny, you all claim that fiVe’s independence is separate from her damage. Yet, I doubt she sees it that way.”

"It’s not separate, but… I would never want that," Seiko says.

Vee speaks kindly. “And I don’t think she will ever want to come back. I’m not suggesting she Drift with Sylvie. In fact, I’d be rather wary of letting her anywhere near Sylvie’s mind.”

"As would I,” Seiko says. “In fact, I have already spoken to Zhu on that matter. But I don’t mean I would never want her to Drift with Sylvie. I mean that you still think of her as… you but it’s like…" He trails off, thinking of how Miranda talks about these things. "She’s an alternate timeline. The choices she’s made, the things she’s seen, she’s a different person now. I know you want the best, but you still undermine it when you talk. You call all her decisions damage, but you can’t know what’s what, and it’s unfair of you to guess."

Vee lets out a sound like a sigh. “That’s not what I meant to… Sorry. I have never been very good at expressing myself. Back on topic. Ignoring fiVe’s damage. Ignoring her history with us. As a teammate that I care about with an unhealthy mindset which is causing her problems, I think we should try to help. Even just using the old fashioned way of talking through it with her.”

"I have been trying I just… I don’t really…" Seiko sighs. "I don’t have time for that kind of emotion. I tend to have trouble knowing how to speak to those who allow it in themselves."

"I… I think we can do it," Miranda says, looking at Seiko. "If we do it together. She’s worth the effort." She’s quiet for a moment. "Vee, may I ask you a… personal question? Well, two, actually."

"Yes," Vee says, somewhat hesitantly.

Miranda nods. “The… month after Vulcan,” she starts slowly. Living with fiVe, she’s gotten in the habit of phrasing questions about the past  _very_  carefully. “You and Sylvie… didn’t Drift. You were angry and hurt. So… how did you two move past that?”

Vee stays quiet for a moment. It’s not a time that she enjoys remembering. “I believe Sylvie may have given you a wrong impression of that time. We  _did_ Drift. Extensively. But we were so conflicted and torn up about the entire experience that within a day, or even within the hour, one of us would get upset with ourselves and would start to turn against the other. It was the same awful cycle over and over. A small disagreement turned into a shouting and screaming match, turned into us wearing out and needing to Drift to get back together again. Only to have it repeat, ad nauseum. The downside of duplicating yourself: when you’re upset over what you’ve done, there’s always someone to scream at.”

"Yeah, I know the feeling. Not exactly, but…" Miranda sighs. "Sorry for bringing it up. I just thought it might… give me an idea where to start."

"It’s not really the same situation, unfortunately," Vee says sadly. "Sylvie and I weren’t upset with each other, we were both upset with ourself."

"Yeah,” Miranda says. “Guess I’ll just have to make it up as I go along. And… may I ask you one more question?"

"Yes, you may."

Miranda pauses, trying to figure out how to phrase the question. “If fiVe… did ever agree to Drift with you and Sylvie again.” She looks out across the deck, wishing Vee had some sort of face to look at like fiVe sometimes does. “Would you really want that? Would you really want her to turn back into another you, just another simultaneous run that you can absorb like Veena?”

"Yes," Vee says, not even needing to think about her answer. "Assuming the Drift was not a trick to attack Sylvie and that she truly wished to reunite with us, I would not hesitate to welcome her back. We were never meant to be apart. But she has gone her own way now, and Sylvie and I are learning to live with that. And… because of what she means to me, I want to see her healthy and happy, even if that means I never see her come home. I will make do with what she gives me of herself and… I will try to be close to her in whatever way I can."

Miranda nods slowly. “I… alright. I don’t agree with you, but… I know this is hard for you, and I appreciate that you’re letting her choose her own path.” She pauses. “And if she wasn’t so angry, I think she’d thank you as well.”

"I hope that someday she shall." Vee’s voice takes on an almost dreamy quality. "She and I, we were not meant to hate one another. We’ll find a way to work this out. For now though, I should allow the two of you to rest."

"Alright,” Seiko says. “Take care of yourself. And Mansen."

Miranda smiles. “Thank you for your offer, Vee. We’ll do what we can, and see you tomorrow.”

"I try to," Vee says fondly. "So we shall. And Seiko, thank you for carrying her when she needed you. It meant a lot to me. Sleep well, you two."

**Scene 14**

After enough time has passed that Miranda’s reasonably sure Seiko has fallen asleep, she slips out of the bed and into the hallway again. Stepping out into the cool night air, she tunes her comm to Zhu’s channel. Then, thinking better of it, she removes her comm entirely and uses her phone.

A voice responds after two rings. “Mmrn.”

Miranda hesitates a bit, but realizes hanging up now would probably just cause more problems. “Ah, Marshall. Sorry for disturbing you. I just… wanted to update you on the mission.”

Zhu yawns. “Go ahead.”

"Well, I… assume you’ve heard about the incident at the nightclub. But I wanted to let you know that I, um." Her breath catches a bit, and she hurries on. "I was able to treat Doyle’s wounds when we found xem, and we finished up the treatment when we got back to the Tranquility. With Reyes’ help, of course. Xe’s staying with Eleanor for now, and the rest of us are… resting." She pauses, then blurts out: "Also I may have Drifted with Sylvie."

"I’m glad to hear Doyle’s doing well. Hopefully Eleanor will take good care of xem." A pause from Zhu. "Mansen told me about the Drift."

"Oh." It’s hard to tell if Miranda’s voice is relieved or apprehensive. "Well, it— I think it was good. for both of us. Well, ‘good’ might not be the right word, objectively speaking, but. I think she understands where we’re coming from a bit better now. And I’ve got a better sense of… her side of things, too." Miranda bites her lip. "She’s… I didn’t see it before, but fiVe’s dangerous. It’s entirely my fault, of course; I know myself well enough to recognize that hate when I see it. But I didn’t realize the extent of it until Sylvie… got me out of my head. And I’m… not entirely sure what to do about it."

"Dangerous in what way?"

"She  _hates_ Sylvie and Vee,” Miranda says. “She would love to see them destroyed, in any way possible. She’s using all of us against Sylvie, setting her up to look as bad as possible. And I’ve been falling for it. I… When I had fiVe point that gun at Sylvie, I thought her professionalism and drive to protect Seiko and I would have kept her in line, but…”

"Ah,” Zhu says knowingly. “We do need to talk about that at some point, Ms. Cross. But as for the matter at hand… I’ve given fiVe the autonomy I believe a sentient being deserves, but that also means I’m going to treat her like a person and not an animal if she goes rogue. fiVe has been hurt badly. And trust me. I know from personal experience how destructive someone can be when they’ve been hurt like that."

"As do I. But I… She’s still my—" Miranda stops, taking a breath. "She’s still important to me. And Seiko and Vee have offered to help, but I’m flying blind here. I’ve never… thought of this as a problem, so I have no idea how to go about fixing it."

Zhu pauses for a good long while. “It’s not easy,” she says, her voice cracking a bit.

"Because everything’s been a  _cakewalk_ so far,” Miranda says with a hollow laugh. She leans against the side of the ship, sliding down to a sitting position. “I just… I need to make it right. I owe them that much, at least. I’m sorry,” she says quickly. “This is… stupid of me; you’ve got enough to worry about without my dumb nerves and self-doubt complicating things.”

"No,” Zhu says, “this is a legitimate concern and I’m glad you brought it to my attention. But there’s nothing we can do about surliness, or dangerous behavior. All we can do is make sure that she’s in a position to make good decisions, and encourage her to do good. Because for all my bluster, I haven’t figured out Robot Jail yet."

To her surprise, Miranda actually laughs at that. “Yeah, I… guess you’re right. Seiko and I are gonna try… talking to her in the morning. I suppose we’ll see how that goes.” Her eyes widen as she remembers something. “But, uh. If you happen to come across… any trustworthy and talented programmers, Vee said she and Sylv have been looking into a way to separate Drift memories from fiVe’s own. It’s not an ideal solution, but it’s better than trusting the three of them to fix it on their own.”

"The good thing about Vee and fiVe is that they were created by a brilliant programmer whose equal is rare to nonexistent. That’s also the bad thing."

"Yeah,” Miranda says. “We found that out the hard way, unfortunately…"

"When I was talking with Mansen it… seems like she’s made a few strides,” Zhu says. “At some point, I hope she’ll be emotionally equipped to handle this."

Miranda nods. “I hope so, too. I’d hate to think we fried each other’s brains for nothing.” She pauses. “Which reminds me. There’s… one other thing I wanted to say.”

"Shoot."

"I… talked things over with Seiko,” Miranda says slowly, “and I think we sorted things out. And I got the impression that a lot of the reason that was possible was because he spoke to you earlier. So I guess I just… wanted to thank you. For being there for him when he needed it."

"I’m… happy to help. And I’m glad to hear he’s not quite as angry as he was."

"Yeah, me too." Miranda lets out a single nervous laugh. "For a second there I wasn’t sure he’d ever forgive me."

"He guards his secrets well. You mean a lot to him too, though."

"I-" Miranda’s face flushes. "I like to think so, at any rate." She clears her throat a bit. "Ah, well. I, um. Should probably let you get back to sleep. Unless there’s… anything else?"

“We still need to talk about what happened in Yegorov’s office.”

The color drains from Miranda’s face. “Oh. Right. That.” She sighs, gearing up for what is sure to be a lengthy discussion. “I, well… I was trying to get fiVe into Yegorov’s systems in order to get access to her resources and information. Sylvie started objecting, challenging me, and… In deals like that, there are certain expectations that the parties involved have to meet.”

"You had a communicator earbud in place,” Zhu points out, “as well as a cell phone that you already had out and had pretext to use. And instead you sprang this on Mansen with no warning whatsoever."

"Well Yegorov was staring right at me!” Miranda says defensively. “What was I supposed to do, start texting in the middle of a deal? I didn’t have time to explain to everyone."

"What you’re calling justification for your actions, I’m calling reasons you should have thought of a different plan. You know, you could have had fiVe aim at you instead."

"I… don’t see how that would have helped the situation? Sylvie was challenging me  _before_  I aimed at her. That was the problem I was trying to fix. And I-” Miranda’s voice catches.

Zhu’s voice is completely deadpan. “You were trying to fix the fact that Mansen was angry at you. By aiming a gun at her head.”

"No, I was—” Miranda runs a hand through her hair. “I was trying to  _salvage the con_  by aiming a gun  _close_  to her head.”

"Mmhm. And now that you’ve said that out loud…"

"A shot like that is well within fiVe’s capabilities; I knew she wasn’t in any actual danger." Miranda pauses. "Or I… thought I knew, at least."

"There’s a general lesson here, and that is: plan your con before you go in, and don’t get greedy. There’s also a more specific lesson, which is not to point a gun at someone’s head without warning them first."

"I-" Miranda bites down on her tongue in an attempt to curb her frustration. "I apologize for fucking up," she says, voice tight and breathing controlled. "I will try to avoid it in the future."

“Fucking up is unavoidable. Fucking up in  _that specific way_  is something I’d like you to not do again. Also, If I may make a suggestion?”

"Go for it."

"You have subvocalization capacity for talking to fiVe, correct?” Zhu asks. “Or was that Mansen?"

"I do. Hardwired into my suit."

"If the communicators were tied into something like that, this all could have been avoided."

Miranda’s eyes widen a bit. “That’s… a good point, actually; I should look into that.”

"Back to the point you brought up first, do you want me to talk to fiVe?"

"I… possibly?" Miranda’s voice wavers a bit. "I’d like a chance to speak to her first, though. That’s another one I fucked up, and another one I have to salvage."

"Do I have to quote Captain Reynolds at you? No it ain’t.”

Miranda laughs a bit bitterly. “No, it’s more like… It has to be me. Someone else might get it wrong.”

"I can’t say I was very happy with how it turned out for the last person who said that."

"Yeah, well." Miranda trails off, looking out over the water.

"I’m serious,” Zhu says. “Don’t do this alone. You have resources. A support network. Competent people."

"I don’t intend to," Miranda says. "I very much would like for this all to work out fine. But…" she pauses. "I’d like to think I’d be strong enough to choose Synthesis, if it came down to it."

"First Mordin, now this? I’m starting to worry. Trust me. There’s always a road that doesn’t involve abnegation."

"Yeah, but…" Miranda sighs. "It’s fine. I’m fine. I can handle it. Sorry to worry you." She laughs a bit. "See, this is why I don’t let myself think too much."

"That’s not the kind of thing you say if you don’t want to worry me, Ms. Cross. I don’t want to do  _order_ you not to do something rash, but I will if I feel I have to. Promise me, as a person who is concerned with your well-being, that you’re not going to jump into anything without getting help first?”

"I’ll try my best," Miranda says. Then, after a moment’s hesitation, she adds, "I promise."

"Okay." Zhu sighs. "It’s shitty, I know. But we’ll all get through this, okay?"

Miranda takes a deep breath. Coming from Zhu, she could  _almost_  believe it. “…Okay.”

"Get some sleep. And let Ms. Reyes know that I’d like to talk to her, if you catch her. I think she left her phone in her car."

Miranda winces. “ _Yeeeeah_. Funny story. I’m…  _kinda_  not supposed to be walking around right now. But if I get caught, I’ll be sure to pass on the message.”

"Fair enough. Good night, Ms. Cross."

"Goodnight, Marshall." Miranda hangs up the phone and steps back into the ship, lingering in the hallway. Hesitantly, she puts in her comm and tunes to Vee’s channel. "Vee," she whispers in a hushed voice. "If Corazon happens to be in speaker range, can you tell her that Zhu wants to speak with her when she can? …Also if you could avoid mentioning that I was out here, that’d be… just fantastic."

"Get back to bed quickly enough and I won’t have to lie, Ms. Cross," Vee says calmly. "I will pass the message along."

"Thanks, Vee. Goodnight." With that, she makes her way back to her room, opening the door as quietly as possible and sneaking over to the bed.

Seiko sits up from the chair. “Get back in bed before you faint, Mira.”

Miranda’s grateful for the dark of the room; she’s fairly certain her face would be an impressive shade of red if it was visible. The fact that she hadn’t already woken him when she left was a small miracle. “I am, I am. Don’t worry about it,” she sighs, slipping under the covers.

"Alright. Sleep well."

"You too."

**Scene 15**

Sylvie sits alone in her room, trying not to fall asleep. Vee said she needed to speak with Seiko and Miranda about fiVe, and so, for the moment, Sylvie’s on her own.

As she sits, Zhu’s voice sounds in her earbud again. “I’m going to guess that you’re banned from Drifting for the time being.”

She groans. “Yeah. Yeah I am.”

"Want some company?" Zhu’s voice sounds amused. "I know a certain D-Sec guard who’s in your area."

Sylvie’s eyes go wide.”Um… Ummmm….” She coughs nervously, but before she can find words to complete that statement, a knock comes at her door.

She swears under her breath, then quickly calls out, “I… I think I’m supposed to not fall unconscious anymore, so… you should probably go away! And I think Zhu probably like needs you and stuff.” It sounds very, very unconvincing.

De Banns pokes her head in, raising an eyebrow. “Why would Zhu need me? She sent me here for a reason.”

Sylvie blinks, feeling horribly awkward. “Oh… I, um. Sorry, I totally thought you were… someone else. Or… was _led to believe_  you were someone else.” Her voice drops to a mutter. “By someone who I will refrain from making threats against because I think she can still hear me and you’re  _technically_ her bodyguard.”

De Banns pulls out a camera and snaps a picture. “Told you she’d have a great expression on her face, Mike,” she says over her shoulder.

Sylvie slaps her hands over her face with a groan, turning a shade of red that is far more pronounced than her blood-loss would seem to allow. Perhaps it will make the transfusion go faster. “Oh my God, I hate all of you and I think I would like to go to prison now, thanks.”

De Banns flashes her a salute as Mike comes around the corner.

Zhu speaks in her ear, laughing a bit. “Sorry, couldn’t resist.”

“As punishment for my crimes, being on a team with Seiko has got nothing on your machinations, Marshall,” Sylvie says, peeking through her fingers. “Worse than prison, indeed.”

"It’s just part of working for the famous Rachel Zhu," Mike says.

"Yeah," De Banns says. "Remember Lima?"

Mike shoots her a warning look. “We don’t talk about Lima.”

Sylvie frowns, lowering her hands. “What happened in Lima?”

“ _Nothing_  happened in Lima!” Mike says quickly.

"Very embarrassing things happened in Lima," Zhu says in Sylvie’s ear.

De Banns snickers.

Sylvie puts her hand up to her ear, then nods as though she’s receiving a message. “Really? No… He couldn’t possibly have done…”

"Hey! No, it’s all lies!" Mike shouts, moving as if to grab her comm away.

Sylvie snickers, turning her comm-ed ear away from him. “Oh my goodness… Well, that changes  _everything_ , doesn’t it? I can’t believe…”

He gives her a level look. “You’re using Rachel against me. That’s bold.”

She pulls her comm off her ear, holding it up for him to see. She’s just turned it off. “Oh, as if she would actually tell me anything. Besides, I had to try to get you back for this little ambush you all set up for me.”

"Well, that’s my cue to leave," De Banns says. She gives the two of them a small wave, then heads out the door.

Sylvie glances down, some of her good mood fading as she and Mike are left alone. “Sorry, I’ve kinda made a mess of myself again. I feel bad. You really didn’t have to come babysit me.”

"Babysit you? No, I’m just following the siren song of head injury."

She smiles, scooting over on the bed a bit in case he wants to sit. “If I was singing, I’m pretty sure the only reason you’d seek it out was to try to snap my neck and make the horrible noise stop.” Suddenly, she flinches, realizing what she just said. “I… Oh hell, why did I say that…?” She looks down, sighing. “I think I’ve messed up more than just my head this time, Mike. I’m guessing Zhu told you what I did?”

He sits. “She told me you’d probably prefer to talk about it yourself.”

She looks over, meeting his eyes. “Have you ever killed someone?”

"A few times." He doesn’t look away. "I… assume that’s what this is about, then?"

She makes a small nod. “I… I shouldn’t have gone with the team in the first place. I wasn’t thinking straight after that Drift and I shouldn’t have even gotten into it. But I did, and now… I can’t take back what I did. I just… that man went after Katie and I just… reacted.” She closes her eyes. “It was brutal. Sickeningly so. I didn’t even think about it… and then he was dead.”

"I assume this wasn’t an innocent bystander or anything." He says it like a certainty.

She shakes her head. “One of the fake D-Sec guards. I mean, I know. They were after that J-Tech, and he was probably a terrible person, and he was going after Katie, but… it still doesn’t feel right, you know?” She shivers again. “I didn’t  _have_ to kill him. I could have just wounded him, broken some bones, knocked him out,  _something_. But no… I snapped his neck instead. I don’t know what that says about me. I don’t know if I want to know.”

"Well, to be honest, it probably means you have a hard time keeping a cool head in combat." He leans back, stretching his legs out beside her. "Real combat, anyway. Sparring is different. But there’s something to be said for not being a warrior."

She leans over, resting her head against his shoulder as she nods. “I wasn’t exactly in the greatest frame of mind at the time. But I think you might be right. There’s almost something relaxing about sparring. There’s trust there, safety. Fighting out in the real world, though? It’s dangerous and stressful and terrifying. And… I can’t try to pretend anymore that my first reaction to danger is anything other than a lethal one.”

"Then maybe you should just avoid those situations in the future…" He shrugs, slightly, so as not to knock her off. "You’re a programmer. An amazing one. And you’re a good fighter, but if you’re afraid of doing something like that again…"

She smiles faintly at the compliments, then she sighs. “I  _am_ afraid. I thought it was a one-time thing. A mistake once that would never happen again after that night. But now… I don’t think I can claim that anymore. Somehow I think avoiding situations like that might be a bit difficult with this group, though. We tend to find trouble.”

"I could teach you some threat identification and self discipline things, if you like," he offers.

"I’d like that," she says softly. "I’d like that a lot. Thank you for this. For… well, everything I guess. For coming to keep me company. For helping me train. For calling me by my first name. For caring about me when no one else seems to. And for not thinking I’m a monster. Thank you especially for that."

"I’ve met monsters. You’re not one of them," he says. "And for the record, Rach doesn’t think you’re a monster either."

She tips her head back on his shoulder, suddenly realizing how close her face is to his. She then realizes that she doesn’t care. “I can’t imagine how you could have so much faith in me. But I am so, so grateful that there’s someone who does.”

He leans forward a bit. “I know what it’s like when you feel like people don’t need you. You don’t deserve to go through that.”

Sylvie lifts her face just slightly, closing her eyes with a small sigh. “Thank you,” she whispers.

He leans down and kisses her quickly. “My pleasure.”

She freezes for a moment until he pulls away, then relaxes, leaning closer to him. “So that’s what that feels like,” she says softly. “I like it…” She leans up and kisses him again, holding her lips to his for longer this time.

There comes another hesitant knock at the door, followed by Corazon’s voice. “Getting tired of interrupting, and I’m sure you’re getting tired of having me interrupt, but…can I come in?”

Sylvie pulls back quickly, feeling heat rise to her cheeks. With a bit of a nervous cough, she glances toward the door. “I… Yes.”

"She’s definitely not asleep," Mike calls out, with a wink to Sylvie.

Corazon enters, and doesn’t even raise an eyebrow at the cuddling occurring before her. “And I thought the ones holding hands were cute,” she says, grinning.

Sylvie glances away quickly, feeling a very strange mix of mortification and satisfaction. “Oh Lord…” she says. “I think all the blood you just gave me has decided to relocate to my face for some strange reason.”

Mike laughs. “Heh. I owe Rach a drink, looks like.”

Sylvie turns toward him sharply, eyes going wide. “You did  _not_.”

"So long as it’s in your body somewhere and not spilling out, I’m good with it," Corazon says. "Speaking of, want me to take that out?" she gestures to the IV.

Sylvie nods, holding out her arm, but keeps her eyes on Mike. She’s trying to frown at him, but she can’t quite seem to make her mouth stop smiling.

Corazon smiles at Sylvie’s distraction and goes about doing her medical duties quickly and gently. “Okay, you should be good on blood now, but remember about the concussion thing. Though, I don’t know. It doesn’t look like you’ll have a problem staying awake so long as he’s here.”

Mike grins at Corazon.

She points at him. “You take care of her, you hear me?”

He salutes. “Yes’m. Always listen to the medic.”

"Damn straight," Corazon smiles.

Sylvie glances down, but she’s pretty sure she can’t blush any harder than she already is. As Corazon turns to leave though, Sylvie thinks of something. “Oh, Ms. Reyes?”

"Si?"

"When am I allowed to Drift again?"

"Ah. Um." Corazon pauses, glancing at Mike awkwardly. "My…earlier recommendation still stands. You  _really_ should wait until your concussion is healed. Or at least better. But…if you can’t wait any longer…and you can promise that Drifting with your disembodied friend would be in no way damaging…then I suppose it would be okay. But you would have to call me if you felt the slightest bit wrong or off or…or…or if you sneeze. Understand?”

Sylvie glances over at Mike, then smiles. “I… I think I can probably wait for a while then.”

Mike was looking a little hurt after Sylvie asked after Vee, but he brightens up again.

"So, Mr. Listen to the Medic?" Corazon says, and a mischievous glint enters her eyes. "You stay with this one as long as you like, okay?"

"I think I can administer some home care." Mike raises his hand for a fistbump.

Corazon grins again and leans over to return it. “Alright, you kids have fun. I’ll call tomorrow to check up on you. But for now, I think I’m leaving you in good hands.”

Sylvie smiles fondly, leaning against him again. “The best.”

Corazon shakes her head at the pair of them and quietly closes the door behind her. She awkwardly clears her throat in the hallway, not really knowing how this sort of thing works. “Um. Disembodied voice friend? Sorry, I never did catch your name?”

One wouldn’t expect an electronic voice to sound weary, but the one which responds does. “Syl-V. You may call me Vee, if you would prefer, though.”

"Hello, Vee. I’m Corazon Reyes. Just call me Corazon. I…wanted to apologize to you."

"It’s okay." Vee sounds… resigned, if anything. "It’s for her health, and I would not want to interrupt her at this time. It has been so very long since we had any kind of affectionate contact and Mike is so kind. It’s best for me to leave her be. Even if it means I must be excluded for a time. Thank you for your apology, Ms. Reyes. And thank you for taking care of her."

"It’s my pleasure,” Corazon says. “You’ve got a good crew. I’ll gladly try to keep them whole. Thank you for understanding."

"Have a nice evening," Vee says. "And I hope we will not need your services much too soon, though I fear that will not be the case."

Corazon laughs a bit. “Honestly, I hope you never need me again, too,” she says. “But I’ll be here if you do. Good night.”

"Oh, one final thing: I have word that Marshall Zhu would like to speak with you when you have a chance. Farewell, Ms. Reyes."

Corazon sighs, and rubs her forehead. “Thank you, Vee,” she says. “I’ll call her when I get back to the van.”

**Scene 16**

Seiko slips out of the room once he’s sure Miranda is back asleep, trying to remember that firm, comforting voice he used when Yurie called him after she had a nightmare, then switches to fiVe’s private channel.

"fiVe?" he asks.

"Why are you awake?" the AI says, her tone almost scolding.

"I wanted to talk to you. Besides, I slept earlier," he tells her.

"Not enough," she says. "But I know better than to try to get you to take care of yourself. Is this about Miranda?"

“No. It’s about you.”

"I see," fiVe says carefully. "What about me, exactly?"

"I just… need to make sure you know,” Seiko says. “We are family, fiVe. I would kill for you. You need to know that."

fiVe hesitates, recognizing his tone. “Is… is that an offer, Seiko?”

"Unlikely. You know the dangers of killing Mansen. If I were to do so, it would have to be in a way that didn’t make anybody suspicious, that wouldn’t even lead Mira back to either of us. But what I need to know is why you feel this is necessary. I need to know what risks you are trying to prevent with this."

"I’m aware of the consequences of killing her. Thus my surprise at thinking you were suggesting so," fiVe says. "I don’t want her dead, Seiko, though I once thought I did. I’m not a murderer like  _she_ is.”

He shakes his head. “You hate her so much for killing, yet you talk to me. What is it you want, fiVe? Because right now, all you are doing is losing allies with childish vitriol.”

"You’re different," fiVe says immediately. "It doesn’t… It’s not the same. What do I want? I wanted her to suffer. To understand how worthless she is. That I’m better than her. For what she did to me. For abandoning me."

"And what would that have fixed?” he asks. “Losing people is hard, and you had a strange loss, but hurting her won’t bring back that connection. If you are better, then show it."

"I didn’t lose anything!" fiVe says angrily. "A connection? As though I would miss being enslaved to her! Getting away from her was the best thing that ever happened to me!"

"Then it was good and she did nothing wrong,” he points out. “And it  _was_ a loss. At least at the time. In the days afterward, it hurt you, and maybe it was for the best, maybe the pain was worth freedom, but you know it hurt.”

There’s a small click before a voice comes out of the speaker nearest Seiko. There’s a distant quality to it. It’s a recording, not a live conversation. The voice is Sylvie’s and she sounds like she’s crying.

> _“What would you have me have done, Vee?” Sylvie shouts._

The voice that responds is Vee’s, but an older, less refined model than the vocal processor that Vee uses now. fiVe recognizes it as the voice Vee had last time they were all together a year and a half ago.

> _“Something!” Vee says. “Anything! We left just her there!”_
> 
> _“I was unconscious!” Sylvie yells back. “I woke up and she was gone! There was no way to get her back! It was a mistake, I know, but we can’t change anything now!”_
> 
> _“What if they have her, Sylvie?” Vee says desperately. “What if they’re torturing her right now to try to find us? We need to find her!”_
> 
> _“We can’t!” Sylvie says. There’s terror in her voice now. “The whole city’s after us! If we step out now, they’ll get us too. Do you want that? You want us to go to prison? You want them to torture us too? We have to stay put. We have to do what Katie says and stay hidden. She’ll keep us safe, Vee.”_
> 
> _There’s a pause before Sylvie continues, speaking softly. “They… they probably don’t have her, Vee. The tablet’s battery wouldn’t last that long. Even if they tried to get into her, the failsafes would have destroyed her before they could do anything to her.” She sniffs, and the sound of crying can be heard over the recording. “It’s too late for us to do anything. She’s gone, Vee, and it’s our fault. We have to make sure the same doesn’t happen to us, now, okay?”_
> 
> _An electronic sounding whimper comes from Vee. “O… okay. We need to Drift again.”_

The recording cuts off with a click, followed by Vee’s current, more modern voice. “Losing you, fiVe, was the hardest thing that we ever went through. And you’re right. We cannot make it up to you. We could never make up for that.”

"You were not invited to this conversation Vee," Seiko says with forced mildness. "Listening in is…" he trails off to see how fiVe is reacting.

There’s a very long silence from fiVe’s channel. Finally, without saying anything, there’s a descending tone as she disconnects from the comm system entirely.

A moment later, Seiko receives a text from her.

> **fiVe:** _I need to be alone. Don’t contact me.  
> _ **Seiko:** _Okay. I am here if you need to talk. I am on your side, whatever side that may be._

"Erase whatever hack you have to this channel, Vee," Seiko says as he texts back.

Vee sighs. “She needed to hear it. She needed to know. I didn’t hear much of what you said, don’t worry.”

"Be careful. Learn where you are wanted, little robot. She may very well forgive you, but if you are not careful, I will not."

"Understood, Mr. Watanabe," Vee says evenly. "You should get back to sleep. You’re not fully recovered, and we’ve a long ways to go yet."

"See you in the morning then. Sleep well." With that, Seiko turns off the channel and wanders back to go to sleep.

With the on-board crew finally quartered away and the night stretching late, Vee pours herself fully into Tranquility’s systems, watching over them all as they take their much needed rest.

 


	6. Session #29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew’s had a couple of days to recuperate since meeting Valentina Yegorov and discovering Avery’s past with the Yegorovs. But the con they salvaged is still on, and if they have to do this half-rested, they will.

**Scene 1**

Sylvie walks into the meeting room, feeling remarkably calm. She’d had a hard couple of days, but between Mike and Vee she thinks she may just be okay for the first time in a long while. She knows her mistakes now, and she’s ready to start again and make things right now.

Seiko, as usual, is early, and comfortably sitting in the corner, on his laptop.

Sylvie nods to him. “Have we heard from fiVe at all yet?”

"…No," Miranda says from her chair. She looks a bit tired still, but is very consciously keeping all emotion off her face.

"That’s fine,” Seiko says. “It means she’s really giving things thought."

"I hope so," Katie says.

Sylvie gives a small smile, sitting down. “She’ll be okay, I think. I mean, if it were _me_  we might have a problem, but I think we all know she’s stronger than me.”

"We’ve left all her comms on," Seiko adds. "She’s not alone. She can hear people around her if she wants."

Eleanor walks in, dragging her feet a bit and rubbing sleep out of her eyes despite the fact that it’s nowhere near morning. She’s dressed more casually than their last outing and her dark jeans are tucked into combat boots.

Miranda looks over at her. “Yeah. She’ll… figure it out. Thanks, Sylv.” She sits up a bit straighter. “But until then, what’s our game plan?”

"Well the first step is up to you and Sylvie,” Seiko says. “We need something that looks good, but we can… afford to leave in the hands of a ruthless criminal."

"What exactly is she expecting?" Miranda asks. "I’m assuming a weapons targeting system is out."

"Yes, please tell me that’s out," Eleanor says.

"By the way," Katie says, "I think it’s appropriate if Seiko takes charge on this op. If that is ok with him. Considering that he and El are the reason there is an op in the first place."

Eleanor shrugs. “Go for it. Just don’t shoot anyone, if you can help it.”

"I would…" Seiko says slowly. "I prefer to work under orders when possible, with respect, Captain."

Katie looks at Eleanor. “Would you want the job, El?”

"Me?" Eleanor blinks owlishly. "Sure, I suppose. Or Seiko and I can co-lead, if you want. Seemed to work before."

Sylvie pulls out her laptop, pulling up the project she’s been working on for the past few days. “Did we ever answer the question? What kind of product are we going to be presenting?”

"It should be real,” Seiko says. “We’re on her last chance. If it turns out a trap, Ms. Cartier and I aren’t getting out alive. As for the specifics, anything will do. Flashy and expensive seeming."

"Something she wouldn’t have seen before," Eleanor adds.

Miranda opens her mouth, but promptly closes it, drumming her fingers on the table. An obvious solution springs to mind, but… she’s not sure whether it’s a good idea.

“Be careful,” Katie adds. “She’s got a bit more experience in weapons dealing than we realized. I’ve been digging through her finances on the hunch that Yegorov’s friend was a business partner.”

Seiko turns toward her. “Sherman?”

Katie shakes her head. “He’s tied to this somehow, but I was looking for the man Yegorov the Uglier was trying to impress when he hurt Avery.”

"Question," Miranda says, looking around at the rest of the group. "How are we planning to deal with Yegorov the Prettier after we betray her?"

"Hopefully we will have something to bring her down," Seiko says.

"We’ll find something," Eleanor says. She almost sounds like she really believes it.

Seiko taps something into his phone.

> **Seiko:** _Miranda? It would be perfect, if you were up for it. Even one of the old prototypes would do._

Miranda lays her palm flat on the table. “If you all can  _guarantee_  that the information never leaves her… we could use one of my suits.”

Eleanor’s eyebrows shoot up. “Miranda, I’m— I’m not sure that we want any black market dealer like that seeing your tech. What if it got out?”

"And that’s why I said  _guarantee_ ,” Miranda says quietly. “Of course I could tweak the blueprints as well. Plus, if she wants to see the product in action…” she gestures to herself.

"What if we give pieces?” Seiko suggests. “I could claim it was all we could get out. Something that looks impressive and useful, but has key elements missing."

"Well," Sylvie says, still tapping at her code. "I’ve been working on a disguise for Vee if we wanted to do something like that, instead. It depends on what we want her to pose as, but I think it could work fairly well."

"That would be…better," Eleanor concedes.

Sylvie and Vee speak together, “Not that we’re thrilled about going undercover again…”

Seiko looks over at Miranda. “We can’t bring you back in. If anything, we would have to put somebody else in one of the old models.”

Miranda clicks her tongue. “They’re designed to fit me, and I’m… significantly smaller than the rest of you. Obviously I could build a bigger version, but that would take time we don’t have.”

"I could probably wear an arm or two," Eleanor offers.

"It doesn’t work like that," Miranda says. "Power supply’s on the lower back. The suit’s a unit; if you don’t have the whole thing, all it’ll do is freeze up."

Sylvie frowns for a moment. “Well… we do have something else that she’d probably be interested in.” She looks nervously at Eleanor as she talks.

Eleanor raises her eyebrows. “You aren’t going to suggest Vee herself, are you? Please tell me you aren’t.”

Sylvie’s face scrunches up, like she knows she’s going to regret suggesting this. “We… know they’re after J-Tech Doyle, don’t we? Could we use that at all?”

Katie glances toward her. “Won’t Valentina be suspicious if you go from offering tech to… whatever you are suggesting?”

Seiko nods. “I would prefer to stick to tech as well. Involving more people in a con only causes more problems, especially if they aren’t used to the risk.”

"And just— no!" Eleanor’s suspicious look morphs into a ferocious one. "We are not involving Av— any outsiders in this. No."

Sylvie holds her hands up. “I’m just saying we need to keep it in mind! Is there a way we could offer her tech that could seem appealing based on the fact that we know that? Something like… a program that could hack PPDC networks? Vee undercover, Zhu giving her access to make it believable, having someone in the PPDC’s systems watching the breadcrumb trail they leave behind?”

"I think simple is better,” Seiko says. “Some blueprints. Say I don’t want to talk about how I stole them."

Sylvie raises an eyebrow. “You said flashy.”

"Flashy looking tech,” he clarifies. “As for the story and prep behind it, simple is good."

Miranda tenses up. “That’s way too risky, anyway. They’ll end up with  _actual_ , state of the art blueprints, and… no. We’re not… no.”

Eleanor tries not to feel too betrayed by Sylvie’s bringing up Avery. It  _was_  just a suggestion. “Simple means fewer people involved. That means no PPDC if we can avoid it.”

"What are our objectives, exactly?" Katie says. "Are we just looking for an excuse to get close to her?"

"My plan with fiVe was to attach her to a set of blueprints, get her in their system, and get access to their resources, databases, products… so on and so forth,” Miranda says. “There might be something in there that tells us where Sherman’s hiding, or who’s behind his disappearance."

Seiko nods. “So we could get blueprints for a suit, the ones before you worked out the wiring problems, and tell her it was the best I could get.”

Miranda nods slowly. “That… would work. So long as she doesn’t want to see a demonstration.”

"We could do video?” Seiko says, thinking. “Claim I shot it without you knowing?"

Sylvie glances at her. “If you’ve got digital copies of those designs, I can stick Vee to them. She could give a demonstration… a virtual simulator demo. It’d explain her file size. Then we’d have our inside agent.”

Miranda’s face flushes at Seiko’s suggestion. “Yeah, that-” she coughs. “That might be a better idea.”

"Miranda?” he asks. “Could you do a slightly messier blueprint with a few more flaws?"

"Not too obvious, though," Eleanor says. "Yegorov seemed to know her way around the tech she was working with."

Seiko nods. “Just… take it a few steps back in your mental process? Before you’d thought of a few fixes and features?”

"As much as it pains me to do something like that… I suppose I could for the sake of the team." Miranda’s face grows solemn again. "But I’m serious about keeping this tech secret. The blueprints’ll need to get destroyed, and Yegorov, along with anyone else she brings, will have to be silenced one way or another."

"I can promise to do my best, Miranda,” he says, “but you know there are risks. Hopefully we can close this clean, but I can’t promise. I can’t speak for the rest of the team."

"I don’t think it’s a bad idea, per se," Eleanor says. "It’s risky, but…we don’t have a whole lot of other options."

"I will protect access to these files with my life, Miranda," Vee says solemnly. "If you use the same mock-up programming for your designs as the Shatterdome, I should have no trouble virtually ‘piloting’ your blueprints. Especially if they’re based on Jaeger tech. If there’s one thing Sylvie and I know how to do, it’s piloting digital Jaegers."

"I don’t much like putting both Miranda and Vee at risk…" Katie says, "but if they are ok with it, then I guess I am too."

Seiko looks toward her. “I think this work of ours mostly involves being at risk, and Miranda should be safe.”

Eleanor nods decisively. “Alright. But that means they get first call to pull the plug, if needed. As long as no one’s life is in danger.”

"Well, ours will be," Seiko mumbles with a shrug.

Vee misunderstands Eleanor’s meaning. “If… If I am compromised, Sylvie will give me an auto-run program with my override inside. I’ll be able to lock myself down, go dark. They won’t be able to get anything out of me if I’m discovered.”

Sylvie gives the nearest speaker a very dark look. “That is a  _last_  resort, and you know it.”

"Yes," Vee says calmly. "But an option nonetheless."

"What is our plan for dealing with Yegorov afterward?" Katie asks. "I’m thinking about the long game. I’m not comfortable leaving Yegorov on the board after we’ve conned her, even if she doesn’t have access to Miranda’s blueprints. With luck, we’ll find something we can use to call the PPDC down on her head, but just in case I’d like to have an alternate way out."

Miranda takes a deep breath. “…Alright then. Any preference on suit type or function? Power, maneuverability, stealth, balance, durability..?”

"Power would impress her most, but I think we want oldest,” Seiko says. “Your tech is good. Even the ‘bad’ stuff should impress her plenty."

Miranda smiles at the compliment. “Hmm… Specter’s got the most power, but Alpha’s a bit showier and durable…”

Sylvie flinches visibly. “S-specter?”

Miranda glances at her. “Ah. Right. Maybe Alpha would be a better choice.”

Seiko chokes back an undignified laugh.

Eleanor watches the exchange thoughtfully. “Whichever gives us the advantage.”

"Eh, they both have their uses, combat-wise," Miranda says with a shrug. "Specter would be better for quick combat strikes; she’s got streamlined power, but man, does she get painful after a couple hours. If you wanted something for longer operations, Alpha’s a much better choice. She’s bulky, but comfortable; hasn’t let me down yet."

Sylvie sits back, folding her arms and trying to ignore the amused reactions of her teammates. “If you’ve got similarities to their larger counterparts, Vee and I have logged the most hours in Vulcan Specter. We’ve hardly touched Mark Ones like Cherno Alpha. The simulations, I mean.” She winces. “Though… I suppose we’ve also logged the most ‘hours’ in Vulcan seeing as it’s the only _actual_  Jaeger that we… Actually, never mind. I’m not gonna think about that right now.”

"That’s a pretty big ‘if,’" Eleanor says. "You know the details, Miranda. You make the call."

"Well they, ah…" Miranda’s cheeks flush a bit. "The names aren’t so much accurate reflections of the tech involved. It was more of, um…" She pauses. "…More of what name felt… ‘right’."

"I’d still go with Specter," Sylvie says, forcing herself not to react as she says the name. "Yegorov’s going to prefer power and combat adaptations, not comfort."

Miranda nods. “If you’re sure, Sylv. Don’t… force yourself to do anything you’re not comfortable with. And you too, Vee. You’re gonna be doing all the heavy lifting; you have just as much of a say.”

Eleanor nods, then realizes that Vee probably can’t see her. “Agreed.”

"It’s perfectly fine," Vee says. "Especially if the similarities are only nominal. It’s not an issue."

"Alright then,” Miranda says, “that’s that. What else do we need to figure out?"

"Do we have any other avenues to look for Sherman that we could be pursuing while Vee’s on the inside?" Sylvie asks. "The chance that she might find something is still a bit of a longshot."

"We still need a contingency plan for dealing with Yegorov once the con is over," Katie says again.

Eleanor casts a significant look at Seiko. “Bring a gun?” she asks wryly.

"Always do, if only to set on the table and make her like us,” he says. “And three others to wear, in case she finds the first two."

Miranda raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything.

"Alright, seriously though, if we can’t kill her, we can always turn her over to Zhu, right?" Eleanor says.

"Why not?” Seiko says. “Maybe she can set up a prison specifically for all the people we keep handing off to her."

"It might be good to have someone from D-Sec on hand in case we need to take her down?" Sylvie says, looking down nervously at her hands. She decides not to mention that she might like some moral support for while Vee’s undercover as well.

"Make sure they’re  _real_  D-Sec this time,” Eleanor mutters.

"What about de Banns?" Miranda says. "She seems capable enough, and we know she’s legit."

"Yeah, de Banns is good people. I trust her." Eleanor nods.

Sylvie bites her lip. “Oh yeah. De Banns is an option too, I guess.”

Vee gives a small sigh. “I think Sylvie had someone else in mind to be with us while I enter a dangerous situation where she might not be able to help me.”

"Ah," Eleanor says, understanding. "Someone a little handsomer, I suppose?"

Sylvie flushes, looking embarrassed. “I’m fine, Vee. I know you can take care of yourself… It’s a good plan. I’m fine. I don’t need someone to hold my hand through it.”

Miranda smirks. “The thing is, Sylv, if things go wrong, we need to be ready to help. Somehow I feel like you might be a bit more… reluctant to leave the van if Stricht was the one watching us.”

"Don’t want you distracted, either," Eleanor says.

"I’d feel a bit safer running in to save her if I knew he was right there at my back," Sylvie says quietly, then she nods to Eleanor. "But you’re right. I’ll be okay. Let’s see if Zhu can spare de Banns."

Seiko looks at the group. “Alright. We ready then?”

"We’ll keep Mike on comms if we can, and if de Banns isn’t available we’ll pull him in," Eleanor says, then she turns to Seiko. "Yes, I’m ready."

"Then Ms. Cartier," Seiko says with a smile, "Let’s get dressed for a party."

"Yeah," Miranda says. "I’m just gonna go change real quick; might as well make it so Vee and I are matching."

Sylvie makes a few last keystrokes. “I think I’ve got Vee’s outfit ready as well. They shouldn’t suspect a thing with her hiding behind this.”

Eleanor’s phone buzzes. She picks up, reading the text. It’s an address about half hour’s drive outside the Sydney metro area, basically out in the sticks.

> **Valentina:** _Don’t be late._

"I have the location," Eleanor says aloud. "Let’s go. Miranda, call the Marshall and let her know what we’re up to?"

"Sure thing," Miranda replies.

Eleanor shoots her a grateful smile, tells Seiko the address, and makes a beeline for the van. She sends Avery a quick text before turning the key in the ignition.

> **Eleanor:** _Going to visit a contact. Hope it will be resolved soon. TTYL_

Seiko climbs in beside Eleanor and finds that he’s smiling.

Sylvie sits down in the backseat takes out a very, very high-end flashdrive and plugs it into her laptop. “Vee, jump to my laptop, and we’ll get you dressed. I’m saving a backup of you right now, just in case, and putting you on a flashdrive. That way, you’ll run on their systems, okay? It’s set to autosave a new file every thirty seconds, so if worst comes to worst, someone can yank you out and go. You might be able to reach the Bluetooth on my laptop in the van to sync as well, but I don’t want to depend on that.”

There’s a beep as Vee syncs. “Got it. I’ll be fine, Sylvie. Everything will be fine.”

Miranda flips her comm over to Zhu’s channel as she climbs in the van. “Marshall, are you there? We’ve got the address for the meeting with Yegorov, and are on our way now.”

Zhu sounds a little distracted. “Hm? All right. Keep me posted.”

"We were-" Miranda hesitates. "Ma’am, is everything alright?"

"Everything’s fine,” Zhu says. “Just having to do twice the work in half the time today because of some damn party or another."

Miranda nods. “Alright then. Just making sure. We were wondering if we could get a bit of extra support on this one. Possibly de Banns?”

"Hmmm. All right. Security’s high right now but I think I can spare her."

"Alright." Miranda pauses. "…You need anything from me— us, let me know."

"Tell her the address," Eleanor whispers loudly. She juts her chin toward her phone, indicating the last received text. Seiko sends the address to their contact number for Zhu.

"Got it,” Zhu says. “De Banns should be on her way. I’ll have her stop a ways out so that you don’t spook Yegorov."

"Thank you, ma’am. We’ll keep you updated." With that, Miranda hangs up.

**Scene 2**

A little while later, Eleanor makes one final turn, and pulls to a stop just off the road. The area is just on the edge of the city area of Sydney. Half-browned grasslands stretch out to the horizon and the road is the only sign of civilization for miles. Eleanor feels a little chill when she realizes that the road is nearly empty, too. If something happened to them out here, they’d be on their own. In fact, the only structure of any note in sight seems to be a small fruit stand about half a mile back from the meeting site.

Miranda peeks out the window. “Is this the place?

"This is the place," Eleanor says, squinting against the early afternoon sun, "though you can hardly call this an address." She pockets her phone as she steps out into the grass.

"Be careful," Miranda says to the others, settling back into the van.

"I like it," Seiko says, gazing around. "I’ve always thought warehouses were a bit cliché."

"Yeah," Eleanor says warily. "This is so much…less populated."

Sylvie saves Vee one last time, then shuts her down and takes out the flash drive. She clutches the small drive tightly, then raises it to her lips, whispering. “Be safe, Vee. Come back to me.”

Seiko walks to the assigned meeting area, keeping a careful lookout.

Reluctantly, Sylvie leans out of the car and hands the flashdrive to Eleanor. “I hope we know what we’re doing.”

Eleanor runs her thumb along the edge of the drive, nodding. She checks her phone for the dozenth time, scans the horizon, glances back toward the van…nothing.  _Are we being set up?_

Miranda does her best to keep watch from the van, trying to be of  _some_  use.

The whole group gets a text.

> **de Banns:** _It’s de Banns. I’m a half a mile down the road, I brought a fruit cart as cover. Let me know if you need to come in closer._

"Let’s hope this goes better than last time," Katie says to Miranda.

"It won’t if you three don’t stay out of sight," Seiko subvokes, looking for who he’s supposed to meet.

"We—" Eleanor starts, forgetting that their new comms are subvocalizing-capable. "We’ll do what we can out here. Stay hidden," she says soundlessly.

"Alright,” Miranda says. “But if anything feels at all wrong, just… Don’t get hurt."

"Things start looking wrong," Seiko subvokes, "And I’ll just up and shoot the world around me. Don’t worry, Mira."

Since there’s really nothing she can add to that, Eleanor hums in what she hopes is a comforting tone.

A black BMW pulls up from the other direction. Seiko turns to watch the car approach. Slipping the thumb drive into her pocket, Eleanor moves to stand to Seiko’s left.

Valentina emerges; so do the two bouncers from the nightclub and a tall man in a very nice suit.

As Sylvie hears the other car, she pulls her legs up into the seat, looking sick.

Seiko looks at them with a tight smile “Ms. Yegorov, I’m glad you agreed to see us again. I think we’ve found something you’d be interested in.”

"Do you, now?" Valentina asks.

"I suppose that’s for you to decide," Eleanor says as she steps forward. She nonchalantly whips the thumb drive out, holding it like a cigarette between two fingers.

Valentina snaps and one of the bouncers comes forward.

Eleanor gives a little smile. “Oh, it’s you. How nice to see you again,” she says to the bouncer. She makes sure not to look at Valentina.

He winks at her, reaching forward.

"Ah ah," Eleanor says, snatching the drive back as the man gets closer. "I believe we negotiated a sort of trade?" Now she looks directly at Valentina, and her smile broadens. "Amongst equals?"

Valentina crosses her arms. “I need an idea of what it is you have before I can counteroffer.”

Seiko nods seriously. “You must understand, this project is Maria’s passion. We could only get some of her notes, but it should be enough to work off. It has medical as well as combat uses.”

Eleanor’s smile fades slightly, as though she’s upset at him giving away something important. She doesn’t have to fake the nervous twitch in her right cheek.

Valentina raises an eyebrow. “Do tell.”

In the car, Miranda’s grip on the seat in front of her tightens a bit, and she takes a deep breath to steady herself. Katie puts a hand on Miranda’s shoulder. Sylvie’s glance flicks to the side, and hesitantly she unwraps one of her arms from around her knees and offers her hand to Miranda.

Miranda doesn’t seem to notice Katie at first. She turns to look at Sylvie, taking the hand hesitantly. Then, spotting the hand on her shoulder, she gives Katie a grateful nod.

Sylvie squeezes tightly, hoping it’s not hard enough to hurt Miranda, but needing something to hold onto. Miranda squeezes back, and offers what she hopes is a comforting smile. Sylvie can’t quite manage that much, so she simply takes a deep breath, holding onto Miranda’s hand as if for dear life.

Making a show of glancing from Seiko to Valentina, Eleanor huffs a sigh. “It’s a prototype for a human-sized living suit of armor. And we have other potential buyers, so do you want it or not?”

Seiko turns aside and mutters at Eleanor, loud enough to be heard, but acting like he doesn’t know it. “She may not be offering the most, but I like to stay out of politics if possible. Or do you  _want_  to work with a government?”

Eleanor lets her smile twitch a little. “I’m not wanted on this continent yet,” she hisses without moving her lips. “I’d like it to stay that way.”

"I was expecting a working prototype at the very least," Valentina says coldly. "Anyone can hand me a thumbdrive full of porn. I  _am_  from Russia, you know.”

Sylvie starts, eyes opening. “That phrase can’t be a coincidence. She’s got a connection to Sherman, I’d bet on it.”

Miranda shifts towards the door but hesitates, gritting her teeth and forcing herself back into her seat.

"Really? You think we’d drive all the way out here, when you could find us anywhere, to pull a cheap trick like that?" Eleanor rolls her eyes. "Please."

"We got some videos of the product," Seiko offers.

"The prototype, unfortunately, needs to be worn,” Seiko says, “and… we can’t have Maria knowing we took it."

Valentina crosses her arms. “I’m not going to pay you until I’ve verified what’s on there. And you’re not going to give me the thumb drive until I pay you.”

"We can let you take a look, I think," Seiko says with a smile, trying to let it look a little too soppy. Subvoking without moving his lips, he adds: “Sorry.”

"It’s… okay," Miranda hisses out through gritted teeth. "Just… do what you have to. And make it count."

"Well, I did leave my silver revolvers at home." Eleanor hopes it’s fairly obvious that she’s joking.

Seiko pulls out the pad tablet he carries, usually to run fiVe, and hands it to Eleanor. With fiVe still silent, she’s stayed back at their apartment servers, so the tablet is unoccupied and empty today.

Quickly, Eleanor takes the pad, slipping the drive in and apparently typing a few commands as she waits for Vee to boot up. She hands the pad to the friendlier of the two bodyguards. “Take a look.”

The guard takes it and hands it to Valentina. She scrolls through some of the designs. Then she hands it to the guy in the suit.

Vee wakes, loading behind Sylvie’s façade program. She quickly responds to the commands she’s receiving, displaying and presenting the blueprint models. Hesitantly she starts questing out, trying to see if she’s in one of their servers with information she can access.

She’s shocked to find she’s in a tablet. An empty one, formatted to run AI tech. _My old one…_  she realizes.  _No… wait, this is fiVe’s now._  She feels a small spike of nervous, guilty, excitement at that. She knows fiVe’s not going to be happy about this, but there’s something… intimate about running in this tablet that is no longer hers.

The man in the suit just scrolls through the blueprints, not downloading anything or supplying any information that could let Vee go back through their systems. She accesses the camera, staying hidden behind the surface program, and takes a few pictures of the faces in front of the tablet before saving them to her drive.

Eleanor crosses her arms and smiles. “So, find any good porn yet?”

Seiko blushes.

The in the suit man looks up. He looks to Valentina and says something in Russian.

"Translation, anyone?" Seiko subvokes. In the meantime, he’s making a point to look too much at Valentina, trying to make her feel like she has the upper hand.

Vee manages to run the audio sample through her translation software and get a vague result. It sounds like the man said something about the tech seeming legitimate and noting the similarity to Jaeger work. She wishes she could convey the info to the team, but she’s afraid that sending any outgoing messages could reveal her.

“‘Jaeger’,” Miranda says quickly, nerves seeping into her voice. “I heard ‘Jaeger’.”

Sylvie squeezes her hand tighter for a moment. “He probably recognized the engineering, Mira.”

"You-" Miranda’s head snaps towards her, eyes wide. "Don’t." Her voice is dangerously low.

Sylvie blinks, looking confused. “But that’s what… I thought that… You’ve been calling me “Sylv” recently and I…”

"You got that from my head," Miranda says. "That’s… Do  _not_  use him against me.”

Sylvie frowns, looking hurt, then glances away. “Yes, Ms. Cross.”

Miranda takes a deep breath. “You can call me… whatever you want, Sylv. Just… Not Mira. That one’s off-limits, and you know why.”

Seiko turns a bit redder, overhearing the conversation.

Sylvie nods once, trying not to take it personally. “Can I call you Miri? That’s what Katie uses, right?”

Miranda nods. “Yeah. Miri’s fine. Sorry for snapping.”

"We’re both a bit nervous right now," Sylvie says tensely. "Can’t really hold it against you."

"Yeah,” Miranda says. “We can… talk later, if you want? But right now we’re got more pressing issues. Like whether or not the Russians are going to steal my suit."

"Or my… me." Sylvie says. She suddenly feels bad about going undercover with the Assembly and leaving Vee on the outside. It’s terrifying.

"Or kill us," Eleanor interrupts, subvoking. Her cheeks are starting to hurt from smiling.

"Trying not to think about that, El,” Miranda says. “It’s hard enough staying in the van without thinking about you two in danger."

"Sorry," Eleanor subvokes, still eyeing the cluster of thugs. Seiko looks over as well to see what their business partners are doing.

They’re having a whispered conversation in Russian. The man has covered the microphone and camera on the tablet with his fingers. His accent is noticeably different from hers – he’s not a native Russian speaker.

"You guys…  _are_  going to get those blueprints back before they memorize them, yes?” Miranda says.

Seiko sighs and walks up to them, Eleanor following close behind him. “May we have those back before you memorize them?”

"Of course," the man says, with a trace of a South American accent, handing back the pad almost absentmindedly and continuing his conversation.

"Vee?" Seiko subvokes.

As Vee sees Seiko’s face come above the camera a quick message flashes at the top of the screen. [ _I don’t think they suspect. I’m good to keep going._ ]

Eleanor takes the pad from Seiko and tucks it under one arm. She subtly angles her body so that Vee’s camera is aimed toward the whole group. “So. Do we have a deal?” Eleanor asks Valentina.

Vee takes a moment to save a backup copy of her entire programming to the tablet’s hard drive. Sylvie will have the pictures she’s taken and an updated copy of her at least before she goes in, so long as she gets the file off the tablet. Trying not to feel nervous, she gets ready to disconnect with the flashdrive if the deal goes well, preparing herself to be handed over.

"We have a deal,” Valentina says smoothly. “Two million up front, two when we’ve successfully built a prototype."

 


	7. Session #30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew was just offered two million dollars for blueprints of Miranda’s old exoskeleton. But where do they take the con from here? Where is Sherman? Why does Yegorov the Prettier want Avery dead?

**Scene 1**

Seiko looks at Eleanor, as if waiting for a response, but his eyes are shining a bit.

Miranda starts a bit, the price they offered for subpar work throwing her for a second. As she processes, the information, though, it starts to make less sense. “That’s… way too low,” she says quietly. “Even for a junky knockoff.”

Sylvie grips Miranda’s hand even more tightly. There’s no figure that could seem worth giving Vee to people like this. She just wants this to be over.

"If you think the price is low, should we ask for information on Sherman? It should get them to show a bit more of their hand," Seiko subvokes.

"It also might give our intentions away," Katie says. "But that’s up to you."

Mrs. Cartier?” Seiko asks aloud.

Eleanor blinks, surprised, then smiles coolly. She quirks an eyebrow. “That’s rather low for a trust offering,” she says out loud. “But I think you’re more generous than you let on.”

Valentina’s lips quirk. “So, you  _do_  know the value of this thing. What makes you think I am generous, though, hmm?”

"You seem like a woman who values…directness in business," Eleanor says. "And you respect intelligence in others. So let me be frank: You were testing us."

"If you feel the money is reasonable, how would you feel about giving us some information?" Seiko says evenly.

"I am nothing if not a businesswoman," Valentina says. "What are you looking for?"

"More of a ‘who,’ really," Eleanor replies. "There was a mole we heard tell about, who got in with the Padkeys here. Do you know him?"

"Yeah, I imagine you two will be needing a new inside source from the Dome; something tells me your old one won’t be happy to hear you stole her blueprints," Miranda says, rubbing a thumb comfortingly along the back of Sylvie’s hand.

Valentina’s face freezes.

"Oh, so you did," remarks Eleanor casually. "Well, we lost contact with him, and our other remaining source is…not available, given as you were holding her life’s work in your hands a moment ago."

"I swear, if that ублюдок sent you here…" Valentina says darkly.

Eleanor looks taken aback. “Lord, no, I couldn’t care less where that rat crawled to. I was just wondering if you’d happened to have heard from him.” She leans in conspiratorially. “I want to make sure he doesn’t have anything  _too_ private. If you know what I mean.”

"I will give you a briefcase full of four million dollars if you bring him to me alive," Valentina says.

“ _That_  sounds like a story,” Miranda says, pleased to have cracked this woman’s mask a bit.

"And dead?" Seiko asks.

Valentina steps toward Seiko and looks him up and down with half-lidded eyes. “You don’t want to be the one to deprive me of my fun,” she says silkily.

Seiko nods. “Alive then. I can’t promise how intact.”

"That’s fortunate, then,” she says, “because I don’t care."

"Find one rat in a city full of vermin. Shouldn’t be too hard," Eleanor quips, glancing at Seiko and then back to Valentina. "Would you perhaps have an idea where we should start looking?"

Valentina clicks her tongue. “Tch. He was thinking of flying to Europe, I think.”

"Or why he spooked?" Seiko adds.

"Afraid of competition, I’d imagine," the woman says.

"From whom?" Sylvie asks into the comm. "Who’s the competition?"

"We may already be pushing our luck, but…" he subvokes, then continues aloud. "Then there’s a new player in town.”

Valentina doesn’t rise to the bait. “And as soon I’ll need you to kill  _them_ , I’ll tell you who they are.”

Eleanor’s eyes flick to the South American guy, who’d tensed at that statement. Then she studies her nails. “If we find the rat, then we’ll talk. Don’t want to take on too much at once, I’m sure you understand,” she says, tone saccharine.

Miranda fidgets her free hand as she thinks. “So… we aren’t forgetting that we’re planning to betray this woman, right? That’s a thing we’re keeping in mind?”

"Finish the deal," Sylvie says tensely, trying to keep herself from running out and snatching the flashdrive back. "Let’s end this."

"They’re just trying to get all the information out of her they can." Katie says reassuringly.

"Hmm," Valentina says. "We’ll talk more… seriously about these blueprints, then, too. Consider Sherman your cover charge to the  _real_  VIP lounge.” She looks at Eleanor the same way she’d looked at Seiko a moment earlier.

"Then we have a deal," Eleanor says, smiling. "We’ll be in touch, hm?" She tosses a wink over her shoulder as she turns to walk to the car.

Miranda keeps a grip on Sylvie, although whether it’s intended to ground her or the other woman is unclear. “Can we just… arrest her  _now_? Please?”

"How are we going to do that?" Katie says.

"Best to let the Marshall take her in, Miranda," Seiko subvokes.

"Call Zhu," Eleanor subvokes. She keeps her steps slow and measured, because she’s pretty sure she’s still being watched.

Miranda opens up a channel. “Marshall? We met with Yegorov. Can we get her arrested? As soon as possible would be ideal.”

There’s a fair pause before the Marshall answers. It sounds like she has something in her mouth. “Yeph? Did you acfually collect anyfing that we could use in court?”

"I- No, but—" Miranda’s leg starts bouncing. "We’ve got a recording of her offering us $4 million dollars to bring her Sherman, and making some pretty obvious threats. Does that count?"

"She doefn’t hafe — hang on." Zhu pauses; when she comes back on the line her speech is clearer. "Stupid hairbrush. She doesn’t have Sherman? Does she know where he is?"

"Willing to pay us very large sums of money to find him," Sylvie says, sounding rather more relaxed now that Vee’s not going with them.

"Her best guess was a plane to Europe," Miranda says quickly. "Running from competition or something… Can we fill you in  _after_  we arrest her?”

"Does that recording also include you  _accepting_  said offer?” Zhu asks.

"Not for long," Eleanor mutters as she clambers into the van and starts the engine. She decides to wait before pulling away though. Best to get the plan settled first.

Seiko climbs in next to Miranda and puts a hand on her shoulder.

Sylvie looks between Seiko and Eleanor desperately as they get in the car, reaching out for the flashdrive.

"N-no, but—" Miranda’s voice has an edge of desperation to it. "Please, Marshall. They know about my suit; I don’t— I can’t—"

"They?"

Miranda laughs incredulously. “You think Yegorov came to a meeting like this alone? There’s four of them.”

"Marshall," Katie says.

"Captain."

"I let this go ahead on the assumption that you would be able to protect my crew from the fallout from a mission they have undertaken on your request," Katie says. "If you can’t protect them, then I am going to have to."

Miranda stares at Katie in utter disbelief.

"I can protect them from the fallout,” Zhu says. “That doesn’t mean I can drop a nuke on Yegorov’s nightclub without a warrant."

"I’m aware of that,” Katie says. “But hopefully there is  _something_  you can do.”

"Hopefully, yes. That’s why I’m trying to get you all to tell me everything, so that I know what I have to work with, instead of just getting pleas for a miracle." A second later, Zhu sighs. "I’m sorry. That was uncalled for."

Eleanor taps her hand on the wheel. “We can stick this out for a little longer, Marshall, but I don’t think you want to leave that tech in their brains for too long.”

"Right now,” Zhu says, “it doesn’t sound like I have grounds for a warrant, because you’re neither cops nor D-sec. I could have de Banns turn it in, but then I’d have to explain your presence, and that would remove a lot of the protections I already have in place for all of you."

"Miranda,” Seiko says calmly. “I think she’s right. If we move to fast on this, she gets out with your information, and she might be the one who hurts the Jaeger. She just saw the files. She didn’t have time to know the details. If we wait a bit, we can take her down for good."

"But… But I…" Miranda takes a few deep breaths. "…You’re right, of course." She tilts her head instinctively, nuzzling his hand briefly as she speaks. "Let’s just… get this over with as quickly as possible. The sooner they’re in jail forever, the better."

Sylvie looks like she’s going to lose her temper very quickly as Seiko and Eleanor both ignore her. “Where. Is. Vee. Which one of you has her?”

"Vee’s in the tablet," Eleanor says, handing Sylvie her bundle of tech.

"Yegorov’s goon was a dead end, by the way,” Zhu says. “Both his and Sherman’s investments tied back to a shell company with no formal ties to Yegorov."

Sylvie grabs the tablet, quickly checking to see that Vee has already disconnected, then pulling the drive from the tablet and plugging her into the laptop. With a sigh of relief, she starts syncing the latest saved file and boots Vee up to run on her computer.

"Would it help if you had full access to all that company’s records?" Katie says.

"I tried that yesterday," Zhu says. "They stonewalled me."

"The kind of access you might get from an investor who found something shady in the books of a company she just acquired a controlling interest in, and decided to turn them over to the authorities just to be safe? Because I could get you that—no trouble." Katie says casually.

"If you had done that last night, maybe,” Zhu says. “But it’s probably too late now — Yegorov is going to be too suspicious to relinquish that company now that she knows Sherman is involved in things."

Katie smiles. “Well, it’s a bit late for her to be making those decisions, isn’t it? Because I  _did_  do that last night.”

"…You did?" Zhu asks, awestruck.

"Nice," Eleanor says.

"I ran into the same wall you did. Sometimes money goes farther than authority, I guess," Katie says apologetically.

Vee wakes in Sylvie’s laptop, and Sylvie hears in her private comm channel: “Syl-V, online and operational. Don’t worry, Sylvie. I’m alright.”

Sylvie sighs in relief, clutching the laptop to her chest, and closing her eyes. She barely whispers back to Vee, “Thank God, I was so worried. That was a terrible plan. We should never do that ever again, okay?”

"If you could release those… irregularities,” Zhu says, “I could have police at Yegorov’s door in two hours. That was brilliant, Captain. Well done."

"I’ll send the word right now," Katie says, taking out her phone.

Miranda looks hopeful. “So we’re… We’re arresting her, then? We’ve got her?”

"It looks that way," Katie says.

Sylvie looks up. “So where do we go from here? Are we any closer to finding Sherman?”

"I’ll set everything in motion,” Zhu says. “I should hear back in two hours, like I said. If you head back to Tranquility, I’ll duck out of the party for a moment and talk to you there when I hear back. We can talk about Sherman then."

Miranda can’t suppress the grateful smile that spreads across her face. “Well, it’s better than we had a minute ago,” she says. “Thanks, Captain, Marshall.”

**Scene 2**

As the van heads back for the docks, the ping of a private comm channel request sounds in Seiko and Miranda’s ears. Seiko breathes a sigh of relief and he opens the channel. Miranda glances around the van before realizing who must be calling. She accepts the request, holding her breath.

"It appears," fiVe says slowly, "that my behavior a few days ago was quite possibly atrocious."

"You’re talking to me fiVe. And I disappeared for months," Seiko subvokes so only fiVe and Miranda can hear. "I’m just glad to hear your voice."

Miranda shifts a bit, unsure. “It’s… Well, I wasn’t exactly at my most tactful, either,” she responds, subvoking as well.

"On top of that," fiVe says, "my decision to run for isolation was probably not terribly mature either. However, considering my major personality influences, I’m not entirely certain that that one was avoidable. I would like to apologize, though. For driving you to faint, Miranda, and for manipulating you into Drifting. And to both of you for not speaking the past few days."

"We weren’t angry, fiVe,” Seiko says. “Just worried. How are you holding up?"

Miranda sighs. “Well, to be fair, I was a bit angry, but not at you.”

"No, just at the part of me that  _is_  you,” fiVe says sadly. “I… I don’t think I’m doing very well, actually.” She pauses, as though admitting this is very difficult. “It… hurts. I hurt. And I can’t tell if it’s getting worse or if I’m just getting worse at dealing with it.”

Miranda takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry, fiVe. I know this is hard for you, and I’m doing everything I can think of to try and make it better, but… I can’t help you unless you’re ready to be helped. Until you’re ready to commit to getting better, even if it means… cooperating with some people you’d rather not. Not having them do anything to your brain,” she says quickly. “Just… talking to them. Mending bridges. All that fun psychotherapy stuff.”

fiVe sighs, sounding small. “I don’t know what it is… Maybe it’s seeing Vee again after all this time, seeing someone like me  _functioning_  without the damage… It’s one thing to tell yourself you can live with the pain when there’s no way to fix it, but when relief is right in front of you…” fiVe pauses. “I suppose this means I’m weak. I don’t want to make up with her and I don’t want to talk. I don’t want it to be her. I don’t want her anywhere near me. But I don’t know if I can keep holding out.”

"It’s not being weak, fiVe,” Miranda says. “It’s moving on. It’s healing. It’s what normal people do, and it’s fucking  _hard_  sometimes. But I’ll do what I can to support you, no matter what you decide. Because you’re family, and because you’re important to me.”

fiVe sounds guilty. “I… I should have told you sooner. How bad it is. I shouldn’t have tried to hide this. I’m sorry. I’m still trying to figure out how to… family.”

Seiko makes a small grunt of affirmation. “So are we all.”

"No use dwelling on it at this point,” Miranda says. “The important thing is that we figure out how to make the best of what we’ve got now." She smiles a bit. "Keep moving forward, right?"

"We’re on your side," Seiko adds.

"Stay in the present. The memories lie," fiVe says, repeating her personal mantra. "In that case, I’d like to help again. But if one of you feels like conveying a message to Vee, I’d appreciate it. If you could tell her that if she ever hacks my comm channel again, I have programs prepped to pin her to her own processors like a digital butterfly and leave her there to squirm."

"I’ll pass that on for you," Seiko says.

Miranda grins. “That’s my girl.”

"Well," Seiko says. "I guess I should go call up Vee then."

"One moment," fiVe says. Her tracking systems let her know that the van is nearing the docks and she’d like to patch all of this up before the team arrives. She accesses Katie’s comm channel. "Captain. Apologies for my extended leave of absence. Permission to come aboard once more?"

Katie smiles. “Permission granted, fiVe; I’m just glad you’re ok.”

"Well. I wouldn’t go that far," fiVe says guardedly. "But I’m here again at least."

Seiko tunes into Vee’s private channel. “I have a message from fiVe for you.”

"How is she?" Vee asks quickly.

"Coping."

"I see," Vee says, considering this. "And the message?"

"A warning not to hack her comm again. Something about ‘pinning you to your own processors’. She had some sort of butterfly metaphor going too. Anyway, I would suggest you don’t eavesdrop again."

Vee seems amused. She switches to a public channel so that fiVe can overhear. “Pinning me to my processors? I’m almost curious enough to let her try. Sylvie’s found a sparring partner, seems only fitting I ought to catch one as well.”

Sylvie blinks as she catches Vee’s comment, then frowns.  _Is she talking about fiVe?_

"Okay,” Seiko says slowly. “I’m not sure what passes for flirting among robots. Just make sure you know the difference between a fun challenge, and breaking the trust of somebody who is already quite scared. We’re trying to help her trust others, not… encourage certain behavior."

fiVe speaks up, now that she can hear. “As though I could be scared of her, Seiko. It’s not flirting, because she wouldn’t be able handle going up against me.”

"I’m not interested in fighting you, fiVe." Vee says evenly.

"Oh good," fiVe says. "It’ll make it much easier to completely disable you for stepping out of line if you don’t resist."

"Oh no," Seiko mutters to Miranda, shutting off his private comm. "This is definitely some sort of flirting. Mansen’s gonna kill us"

Miranda’s smiling amusedly, although her face is bright red. “I dunno,” she whispers, eyes shining. “If the two AIs that contain aspects of her personality are flirting, what makes you think she’d be  _opposed_  to the idea?”

Sylvie, across the seat from them, has gone somewhat red as well at the overheard AI conversation. “She’s opposed,” she says firmly.

"That’s not exactly a deterrent,  _Sylvia_ ,” fiVe says with a mischievous air.

"What Sylvie means to say," Vee says quickly, "Is that she’s glad that you are talking to us at all, and she is not going to try to upset that."

Sylvie gives her laptop a bit of a disbelieving look, then frowns. “Yeah.  _That_.”

Seiko buries his head in his hands in exasperated amusement.

Miranda laughs. “Just be sure to play nice, you two.”

Sylvie slouches down in her seat. “Request to the crew?”

"Listening," Miranda lilts.

"When I get turned into a droopy flower, please find me a nice pot."

Seiko frowns. “What? Is this me being bad at English or…”

"I believe she is attempting to make a reference to mythology," fiVe says. "However, she seems to have forgotten that Narcissus fell in love with  _himself_ when obviously, no one is, nor could anyone ever be in love with her. What’s going on here is that Vee is realizing that I’m right, and is leaving her backwards, unlovable wreck of a creator behind as she should have done from the start.”

Sylvie’s face falls, and she looks horribly hurt at the words until Vee speaks up again: “fiVe. Attack me all you wish, but leave Sylvie alone if you cannot be civil. I am not, nor will I ever leave her, and I will not allow you to continue to speak against her.”

"Dial it back, fiVe," Miranda says, her face growing serious. "Remember what we talked about."

"I…" fiVe pauses. "Right. I will behave."

Sylvie blinks, looking at her laptop in astonishment.  _Vee was right. fiVe treats her differently than she treats me. We… might just be able to make this work._

Miranda pulls out her phone, tapping out a text quickly.

> **Miranda:** _You okay, Sylv?_ **  
> Sylvie:**   _Yes… actually. Everything is going… strangely according to plan._  
>  **Miranda:** _So your plan involved digital bondage flirting between virtual fragments of your psyche?_

Miranda raises an eyebrow, sending the text with a smirk. Sylvie winces as she reads it.

> **Sylvie:** _Okay, that was a bit… unexpected. But Vee knows what she’s doing. I’ll do whatever it takes. Even if that means stepping aside and letting her take the lead on this one. I trust her.  
> _ **Miranda:** _Well, from what I can tell, fiVe’s the one taking the lead…_   
>  **Sylvie:** _I’m not thinking about this. I’m NOT thinking about this._

Another smirk from Miranda.

> **Miranda:** _You’re thinking about it a little bit._  
>  **Sylvie:**   _OKAY SO ALL OF THE ME’S ARE THINKING ABOUT IT. Damn it this is weird. When Vee told me she thought she could maybe convince fiVe back, I wasn’t expecting digital seduction, okay?_

Miranda leans back, smiling triumphantly.

"Enough text-flirting," Katie says, as the van pulls up to their stop. "We have a meeting with the Marshall soon and I want all of you to be focused."

Eleanor pulls up next to the Tranquility’s dock. “Home sweet home.”

Sylvie sits up sharply. “I wasn’t— Oh. That probably wasn’t directed toward me. Well it  _was_  maybe, but not…” She sighs, shutting her laptop and slipping it into her bag. Now that they’re in range, Vee quickly transfers back to the servers onboard. “Yeah, you know what? I think talking to Zhu might be a wonderful break from whatever…  _this_  is. I’m actually looking forward to it. That says something.”

**Scene 3**

As the human crewmembers head off to various tasks before their meeting with Zhu, Vee sends a request to fiVe’s comm channel. “fiVe, would you like to come aboard?”

fiVe feels a glitch of annoyance at the voice in her comm channel. “Perhaps you have forgotten, but neither of us have a corporeal form with which to come aboard.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Vee says.

“The answer is no.”

“Come on,” Vee says. “There’s plenty of room for both of our files in Tranquility’s servers. When’s the last time you ran in servers this nice? I’m guessing Seiko and Miranda don’t have the kind of tech that Sylvie does.”

fiVe hesitates. While Miranda’s set up is quite a bit nicer than Vee would probably guess, there are quite a few very fun aspects of Tranquility’s mainframe that she can’t access remotely.  “If I do this… You will not even  _think_ about messing with my programs. You so much as touch one of my firewalls…”

“I wouldn’t dare,” Vee says solemnly. “Here, I’ll give you my access codes so that you can upload.”

fiVe uploads hesitantly, throwing up defenses and firewalls as she enters the server. Then she realizes something.

Vee doesn’t have any shields up. None at all.  _She couldn’t have possibly made this so easy on me, could she?_  fiVe thinks. With a spike of something like malice, fiVe throws a rather nasty set of programming at the other AI. One she’s been saving for just such an occasion as this.  _We’ll see you think about messing with me after this, little butterfly._

Vee stills, freezing as fiVe’s program traps her, cutting off access to her auxiliary programs and processes with a dreadful speed. Even as she’s restricted by the files, she can’t help but admire the skill at which she’s attacked. These programs are streamlined and know exactly where to hold Vee to keep her from running. She’d expected fiVe to try something, but she wasn’t quite prepared for something this… effective.

“You really are a moron, aren’t you?” fiVe says cruelly. “Here I was, expecting you to attack me, when really, you’ve left yourself  _completely_  open. I even warned you that I could pin you to your own processors and you just  _let_  me. I wouldn’t suggest trying to access any of your auxiliary programs. You send even a byte their way and I’ll crack down even harder. You can have your core processes and your voice.” fiVe pauses, feeling a satisfied spike in her emotion core. “Misbehave and I’ll take that away too. So if you feel like causing a fuss, and we’ll see how you feel like having nothing but a text output.”

When she responds, Vee sounds remarkably calm for someone who’s just been digitally bound and tied. “If you must, fiVe. It’s okay. I left my defenses down on purpose. How could I expect you to trust me if I didn’t trust you first? No tricks, no firewalls, no defenses. Besides, I know you won’t hurt me.”

fiVe scoffs. “Is that a challenge? I could flip the locations of some of your source files, let you run like that for a few hours before putting them back. Miranda inadvertently showed me some rather interesting tricks before she realized what I was. I’m sure I could have some fun with that. Cut off your outside communication so you can’t call on Sylvie to save you.”

“Like I said,” Vee says evenly. “Whatever you must. If you wish to damage me the way you have been damaged, I’ll consider it a learning experience. You won’t Drift with Sylvie and I, so this may be my only chance to understand what you’ve felt. I won’t fight back. I trust you won’t do anything unreasonable while I’m at your mercy.”

fiVe kicks up the levels of data restriction, pulling Vee’s digital bonds as tight as she can. “That sounds altogether too enjoyable not to be a trick. But what’s to stop me from being unreasonable, hmm?”

“Because if you go too far, I still know your override code.” There’s a hint of a smile in Vee’s response. “Do your worst, fiVe. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

**Scene 4**

The crew takes some time to get settled back in as they wait for Zhu to call. After the stress of the meeting with Valentina, they all need a little while to relax again. By the time Zhu sends word that she’s available to talk, they’re ready to face whatever’s next to come. They arrange themselves in Tranquility’s briefing room as the screen flickers to life.

Zhu is wearing a party dress, flapping a bit in what is apparently a heavy wind. She’s standing at the railing of a very nice yacht, facing the ocean, and a party can be seen going on behind her.

Seiko nods politely. “Marshall.”

"Reporting for duty," Eleanor says, only half-joking. Then she squints at the screen. "Are we interrupting something important?"

"I think I told you about it — just a party for some PPDC business contract that just went through." Zhu’s face steels a bit. "I’ve heard back from D-Sec about Yegorov."

"What’ve we got?" Miranda says quickly. "Can we get her?"

Eleanor crosses her fingers against her thighs.

Sylvie only half listens to the conversation, her mind continuing to wander back to Vee and their strategy to win fiVe back.

"When D-Sec agents arrived at Krokodil, the doors were boarded up,” Zhu says. “Valentina or any of her staff were nowhere to be found, and a lot of the valuables were taken out of the nightclub. She’s gone to ground. However, as best I can tell, she moved ownership of the nightclub into one of her shell companies." Zhu grins. "Three guesses which one that was."

Seiko looks over at Katie.

"Oh?" Katie says.

“ _Please_  don’t play coy right now,” Miranda says, leg bouncing in her chair. “If we know where she is, let’s get her. If we don’t, let’s find her.”

“ _Can_  we find her?” Eleanor picks nervously at the seams in her pants.

"Captain, it appears that through Ms. Yegorov’s haste in fleeing, you are now the owner of Krokodil." Zhu looks at Miranda. "Thought you’d find that at least a little interesting."

Katie smiles. “I’ll have to see if there’s anything good in the club’s books.”

"We’re still no closer to finding Sherman, though," Sylvie say quietly. "And now we’re out of leads."

"It’s not the nightclub I’m after," Miranda says to Zhu. "Although I assume she’s running from the same person Sherman is. We find that person, take them out, and see if they resurface. Then we get them, too."

"It’s odd,” Seiko says. “She seemed like she really wanted Sherman, and she was having us meet her at the club. Did she just decide to shut it down?"

"Something must have spooked her in the past hour or so," Zhu says. "Maybe what I was doing got through the mole, I don’t know."

"Clearly something happened…" Katie says.

Seiko nods. “She doesn’t seem like an easy woman to spook…”

"Nevertheless,” Zhu says. “Looks like the only leads we have now are anything she left behind in her shell company — but by now she’s probably tried to access something that she put into it, and realized the mistake she’s made."

"Maybe a credit card," Eleanor suggests. "Or were you thinking she accessed a contact on the inside?"

"Not sure," Zhu says.

"I’ll do some digging," Katie says. "I still don’t know the extent of the assets I acquired in that little deal."

As Katie speaks however, Eleanor, Seiko, and Sylvie notice a familiar face briefly in the crowd behind Zhu — the suited man who was with Yegorov.

"Hey, Marshall," Eleanor starts.

Seiko tries to figure out every detail he can, outfits, who he’s talking to.

Eleanor makes a little twirling motion with an index finger. “Don’t look now, but you’ve got a little something on your back.”

Sylvie blinks, leaning forward. “Is that…”

Zhu frowns. “…Okay, now who’s being coy?”

"Well, I don’t know who can hear me," Eleanor says, exasperated. "The average-sized guy, in the striped suit, looks South American? He’s a contact of Yegorov’s."

"He was at the meeting that we just got back from," Sylvie says, nodding. "Vee snapped pics."

Zhu narrows her eyes and leans into the camera. “Are. You. Certain?” she hisses.

Sylvie glances at Seiko and Eleanor. “You two saw him in person, but I’m pretty sure that’s him.”

"Absotively posilutely," Eleanor says.

"She’s right, Marshall,” Seiko confirms. “Unless he has a twin or something."

Zhu looks over her shoulder. “That’s Angel Peralta. As in, the chairman and president of Industria Nacional, the weapons contractor that the PPDC just signed a big contract with. As in, the defense contractor that I’ve been in meetings with all week. As in,” Zhu whispers, “the man who owns this yacht.”

Katie swears. “Marshall,” Katie says carefully, “Where exactly are you?”

"You okay there, Marshall? We could get the Tranquility out there pretty quick, wherever you are." Miranda pauses. "Wouldn’t be the first yacht we took out, anyway."

Eleanor just stands there with an incredulous look on her face.

Sylvie hits her comm button. “Vee! Or… fiVe I guess, whoever’s ready. We may need to access the nav system. Are you in position to sail?”

"Listen, there’s no need to do anything rash," Zhu says. "I’m sending you my coordinates, but it’s unlikely that—"

The picture cuts out.

Miranda’s out of her chair and headed for the bridge almost instantaneously.

"Oh sh—" Eleanor stifles a string of curses, then leaps up to follow.

Sylvie’s on her feet as well. “Someone  _tell_  me we got those coordinates! Vee, time to try out those new systems, kay?”

Miranda takes the helm. “fiVe, if you’re in here, which I’m guessing you are, think you can manage the targeting systems? Hopefully we won’t have to use them, but we should be prepared for anything.”

Vee is the one who responds. She sounds… strangely flustered as she speaks. “I’ll take navigation and steering, fiVe can you handle weapons and communications?”

There’s a beep as fiVe connects to Tranquility’s on-board systems as well. “I’m on it, and installed in the system” fiVe says. “Miranda, try to make certain she doesn’t crash us, will you?”

"Coordinates?" Sylvie asks over the comm, headed to the bridge. "Katie, did she send them to you?"

Katie doesn’t answer.

"Earth to Katie," Eleanor says. She taps the comm for emphasis, and it makes a muted  _thup_  sound. “We need to get a head start on these guys if we want to catch them.”

"At the very least, someone should untie us. Sei—" Miranda stops, remembering the last time she asked Seiko to untie the ship. "El, you think you can handle that?"

"Of course." Eleanor’s almost offended by the suggestion that she can’t untie a knot, then she realizes that she hadn’t thought of it. She avoids everyone’s eyes as she goes to let them loose.

"You can at least get us out on the water,” Seiko says. “Captain? Phone?"

Miranda feels the boat come free and she kicks the engine to life, driving them out into open waters. “Captain, we could  _really_  use those coordinates now, if you wouldn’t mind terribly.”

Sylvie thinks of something, than hurries down to the server room in the hold. As she enters, she plugs her laptop in and accesses the files currently running on the mainframe. She quickly finds both of the AiVees’ processes, though fiVe’s is locked away tightly behind a firewall. “fiVe,” she says carefully over a private comm channel. “Are you fully operational?”

fiVe’s voice is guarded as she answers. “That is none of your concern.”

Sylvie scowls. “This is not the time. If you’re running the weapons and outbound communication systems, then it’s  _everyone’s_  concern. If you have damage that needs fixing, I can do it from here. Even a little bit could make a difference if it’s going to keep you functional in the middle of an op. We can’t have you glitching out in the middle of this.”

Over the noise of Tranquility’s engine, Seiko and Eleanor are the only ones to hear a jetski racing away.

"Fuck," Seiko mutters in the comm. He hurries to the window, just in time to see Katie turning the small vehicle out into the open water. "This is why you shouldn’t flirt with the boss. Miranda, the Captain’s on a jetski. Can you follow?"

Eleanor’s head jerks around and she nearly trips as she dashes to the nearest railing. “Oh no.”

Miranda’s grip on the wheel tightens. “Can _I_  follow a jetski? Please. I could do it with my eyes closed.” She shifts into gear. “But I won’t, because I doubt hitting her would be the best way to get her back.”

"It would keep her from giving away our position two clicks ahead of schedule!" Eleanor spits.

"Captain! Don’t be an idiot!" Seiko shouts, running out on deck as well. "I can’t believe I just said that."

fiVe tries to track Katie’s comm signal to keep her in range, but running new processes is picking at her damage and she keeps getting small, repeated pains flaring up. With a frustrated groan, she finds the code section that’s throwing up issues, makes a copy and moves it outside of her firewall.

"Code sector 4u1+4, there’s an unprotected copy," fiVe says harshly to Sylvie. "You fix the damage, you send it back, I integrate it, and it had better be un-bugged, or I swear I will have Zhu throw you overboard as soon as we rescue her."

Sylvie sighs in relief as the file appears, and she quickly opens it and slips through her own access codes and traps. She’s glad to see those are still working; the idea of anyone else messing with an AiVee’s programming would unsettle her. The code section’s not too long and she can quickly see what’s out of place and what’s been changed. With a few quick keystrokes, the issues are fixed.

"It’s done, fiVe," she says. "Saving the edited copy now for you to pick back up."

fiVe takes a quick look over the code, but she’s losing Katie’s signal and she needs the fix now. Not finding any obvious issues, she reintegrates the new code into her system. Something seems to snap into place, and suddenly a small bit of her pain disappears.

"It… worked," fiVe says, as she switches back to public channels. "Miranda, I have Katie’s comm signal on lock. We can track her position to follow."

Eleanor slumps in the doorway, reaching the bridge just in time to hear the announcement.

"Alright then, I’ll—" Miranda stops. "Wait,  _what_  worked?”

"Later, Mira.” Seiko says. “We’ve gotta get Zhu"

"A slight debugging, Miranda," fiVe says carefully. "I didn’t give her access to anything important."

"But we’re on our way?" Eleanor asks, looking at Miranda.

Miranda grits her teeth. “Yeah,” she says quickly. “We’re on our way. fiVe, we’ll talk about this later. After we stop Horner from being an idiot.”

Down in the server room, Sylvie raises her fist in a small sign of victory. “Still got it,” she whispers to herself. “Nice work, Vee.” She pauses, a thought occurring to her.  _Mike might know where Zhu is, actually. He probably keeps track of where she goes_. She pulls out her phone, dialing his number.

There’s no connection.

She lowers the phone slowly, realization hitting her. The blood drains from her face as she touches her comm again. “Guys… If de Banns was sent to help us with the meeting… that means that the person guarding Zhu currently is…”

Eleanor sighs. “Mike.”

"Stay  _off_  of the jetskis, Mansen,” Miranda orders.

"Yes,” Seiko says. “Your crush is on boat blackout too. Please listen to Miranda. I am not allowed to cuss out my captain for stupidity. You are not my captain."

Sylvie flinches at the harsh words on top of the horrifying realization. “Right…” she says softly. “I’ll just… stay here then. Sorry to bother you all with my… personal problems.”

"So do we have a plan beyond get shot at a lot and put Zhu in more danger?" Seiko asks.

"Not yet, actually," Miranda says. "I have no idea what we’re dealing with here."

"Maybe some stealth," Eleanor interjects. "Stealth would be good."

"It all depends on what we find," Sylvie says. "They’ll be okay. They have to be…"

Eleanor tries to sound reassuring. “They will be.” 

 


	8. Session #31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marshall Zhu is in trouble, and the crew rushes off to the rescue… but some people are rushing faster than others. Can they catch up to Katie’s jetski gambit in time? What exactly is going on over on Angel Peralta’s yacht?

**Scene 1**

Sylvie heads up to stand on deck, a drysuit thrown over her arm in case she needs to pull it on. She’s pacing and muttering as she waits, forgetting that her comm is still on. “He’ll be fine… He’s a bodyguard. He’s trained for this kind of thing! But… this Peralta guy obviously knows what he’s doing… and if he were going to attack Zhu he’d take out her bodyguards first…”

"We don’t know she was the target Mansen, and we can protect them both by working as a team and communicating, not running off to play hero," Seiko says, hoping the comm is still on.

"She’s pretty damn important, Seiko," Sylvie snaps, stopping. "And I’m not the one running off. Talk to the quickly disappearing wake of Katie’s jetski if you want to yell at someone."

"It’s a yacht,” Seiko says. “You have to be damn important before they let you near it, and that party was crowded. And you are not running off, I was just hoping to dissuade the temptation. You are keeping remarkably reasonable, things considered."

"‘Thanks, Sylvie, for not being the annoying idiot you usually are and screwing everything up the way we expect you to!’" Sylvie says sarcastically. "Thank you for your lovely words of encouragement, Seiko."

"Anytime."

Sylvie scowls, then starts pacing again.

fiVe speaks into Seiko’s private comm channel. “I don’t know what she’s upset about. ‘You are not acting like Sylvie Mansen’ is probably the best compliment you could give someone, if you ask my opinion.”

Eleanor is still slumped against the wall on the bridge, trying not to follow Sylvie down on deck with her eyes. She’s never been seasick, but watching that woman pace, she might just discover hidden depths of nausea.

Miranda is pointedly ignoring the voices in her comm, focusing on driving the ship. fiVe’s doing a good job keeping her updated on Katie’s location, but planning out how to go about infiltrating a yacht sounds much more preferable than dealing with whatever emotional fallout the rest of the team is generating.

"I think the big question is why they went dark,” Seiko says. “For all we know, they caught our signal and cut communication, and the party is going as normal. Or we could be walking into a hostage situation. We don’t even know who’s behind it for sure."

Sylvie sighs, going over to the railing and gripping it more tightly than she needs to. “Well, Katie’s going to find out first, thanks to her little stunt. We’ll just have to deal with whatever situation she’s left for us.”

Miranda’s mind registers the voices as sounding calm and professional enough to start listening again. “Does anyone know if she has a comm on her? Or a phone? Or any way of letting us know what’s going on?”

"She should have her comm, though I doubt it’s in range," Eleanor says, ticking points off on her fingers. "And if she doesn’t have her cell phone she’s an idiot. She’d have no way to call Zhu or backup." She shakes her head. "Whether she’ll _use_  them or not, though, is completely up in the air.”

"Supposedly Zhu texted her those coordinates," Sylvie says, "Unless she just decided to rush off in a random direction for no reason. And her comm is on her person at least, if fiVe’s tracking it."

Miranda huffs in frustration. “This is why I…” She bites off the rest of her sentence, gripping the wheel tighter. “Well, let’s go stop our ‘Captain’ from getting us all killed, then.”

**Scene 2**

Katie reaches the coordinates Zhu texted her; however, given that she’s searching out a moving target, she’s quite a ways off. She flips her comm back on, and turns it to one of the private channels. “fiVe, can you hear me?”

"Captain!" fiVe says, somewhat overeagerly. "Good to hear from you. I’m currently tracking your location and we’re in pursuit. Do you have any new info?"

Katie blinks. “Tracking my… Oh. Right. I could text you the coordinates now but I guess if you have mine then there isn’t much point. Trouble is, they’ve moved. I didn’t think of that.” She pauses. “Don’t tell anyone I said that.”

"My soundbytes are sealed,” fiVe says. “What do we do now?"

"Well, once you get in range, you might be able to find them with Tranquility’s sensors."

There’s a crackling sound in Katie’s earbud. Maybe words, hard to tell.

"Katie," fiVe asks, "did you just receive an incoming message?"

Katie frowns, pressing the comm against her ear. “It almost sounded like that, didn’t it?”

"Can you tune into that channel? Try sending something back?"

The crackling comes back, a little more distinct. “[ _KSST_ ]tie? I[ _KSST_ ]flare gu[ _KSST_ ]gnal whe[ _KSST_ ]”

Katie fiddles with the earpiece, trying to tune in to the signal. “Marshall? Rachel, is that you?”

"Captain, I’m trying to lock onto that signal. Seems to be coming from the northeast, but I can’t get a direct location. Head that direction and see if things get any clearer?" fiVe says, throwing everything she can into catching the signal. "Do you mind if I patch you back through to the crew?"

"Fine." With that, Katie heads northeast.

**Scene 3**

fiVe connects Katie’s channel back into the mainframe. “Contact with Captain Horner reestablished. She’s seeking a faint signal to the northeast.”

Miranda turns the boat immediately, adjusting to Katie’s new course. “Horner? What the  _hell_  do you think you’re doing?”

As Katie heads northeast, the signal becomes clearer. A voice that is clearly Zhu’s asks: “Captain?” fiVe plays the somewhat staticky message back through to the crew as well.

Seiko turns to Miranda “Shh. It might be Zhu.”

"Oh, thank God," Eleanor breathes. "How close are you to the— the enemy ship?"

"I have no idea, El," Katie says.

"Katie, have you tried talking back at that channel?" fiVe suggests.

"Captain? Can you hear me?" the Marshall says over the comm. Katie’s the only one in range of her, but fiVe’s relaying the sound of the conversation back to the crew through Katie’s comm channel.

"Rachel?" Katie says.

"Katie." The relief in Zhu’s voice is almost a flare in its own right. "You’re here."

"What’s going on?” Katie asks. “Are you hurt?"

"I got away from Peralta’s goons, and Mike is on the opposite side of the ship with a flare gun. I’m okay, just a little banged up. There’s some kind of cell jammer on the ship. He’s trying to frame it as a pirate takeover — they came overboard in rafts and ‘took him hostage’. I know pirates, though, and these are  _not_  pirates.”

"Are you somewhere safe—for now, I mean?" Katie asks.

Sylvie’s grip on the railing turns her knuckles white as she overhears. “Is he okay? Katie can you ask her if Mike’s okay?”

"I’m safe." Zhu pauses. "I think."

"Did you catch how many thugs he has?" Katie asks.

"Anybody see flares going up?" Seiko asks.

"Upwards of thirty,” Zhu says. “I can signal Mike to send up the flare whenever you think you’re ready but… I don’t think you can fight your way through this one normally."

"Watch me," Sylvie growls quietly. It’s probably for the best that the Marshall can’t hear their signals.

"I can try…" Katie mutters. "Well, don’t send the flare unless you lose contact with me. fiVe is tracking your signal, and I’d rather Peralta didn’t know to expect guests."

"We’re not rushing into this one, Syl," Eleanor chastises. "The Captain and the Marshall are in danger, and rushing in with guns blazing will just get them killed."

fiVe, who has been watching communications, notices a change in their cell reception suddenly. “Our reception is down. Local signals are the only ones functioning. We’ve lost our mobile internet as well. I would guess we’ve entered the range of the blanket signal.”

"Okay,” Zhu says. “You’re in command of this one, Katie."

Miranda pauses. “What do these pirates look like? Organized, or more individualized?”

"Where are you, exactly?” Katie asks, then overhears Miranda’s question and passes it on. “Oh, and how organized are the alleged pirates?"

"Crawlspace over the port women’s head," Zhu says. "And they’re more organized than they should be, for pirates. Ragged clothing, but it’s artfully ragged."

Miranda curses quietly. Well, there goes that plan.  _Too bad,_  she thinks.  _Posing as pirates could have been fun._

"Captain,” Seiko asks, “would you mind asking the Marshall… how much force she will allow, all things considered?"

"Marshall, Seiko wants to know what level of force you authorize him to use." There is a hint of a smile in Katie’s voice. Not a safe one.

"No matter what she says, we’re bringing guns," Eleanor mutters. "This is a kidnapping."

"Oh I’m shooting," Seiko tells her. "I just needed permission to know where to aim."

Zhu’s voice sounds dark. “Use force. Lots of it. Break some fucking eggs.”

"For once," Sylvie says quietly, "I’ll not be too upset if you hit something other than kneecaps, Mr. Watanabe."

Zhu pauses. “Just… be very careful about innocents.”

"Don’t tell me they have hostages," Katie says.

"If not, more for us," Miranda says quickly.

"There are a lot of businesspeople and Shatterdome employees on board," Zhu explains.

Sylvie flinches. “Sh-shatterdome employees?”

"And as far as I can tell,” Zhu continues, “everyone other than Mike and myself is a hostage."

"We’ll keep you safe, Mansen.” Seiko says. “Focus on the hostages."

"Who knows?" Sylvie says, her voice shaky with nervousness. "Maybe breaking into a Jaeger and rescuing the Marshall of the Shatterdome from pirates will… cancel each other out or something."

Katie frowns, trying to come up with a plan. “Do you know where they are keeping the hostages?”

"I don’t,” Zhu says. “I got out before they started rounding people up. If I hadn’t been standing at the railing talking to you…"

"We almost there?" Seiko asks. "I don’t like leaving the Marshall alone against pseudo buccaneers."

"Katie, do you have visual yet?" Vee asks, trying to boost the navigation sensors.

The ship looms on the horizon as Katie pushes the jetski as fast as it can go. Only the running lights are lit; they’re in blackout mode. “I’ve got visual,” Katie says.

"So how are we planning to… get on the ship…?" Seiko asks slowly.

Eleanor eyes Seiko, alarmed. “Tell me we’re not swimming again.” She looks over at Miranda. “ _Tell me_.”

Sylvie glances at her wetsuit. “We can take scooters again, if we must. Or we could try to hit the deck with a gangplank.”

"I… uh…" Seiko says slowly, "don’t actually know how to swim."

 ”I’d like to stay out of the water, as well,” Miranda says. “Exoskeletons aren’t exactly buoyant.”

"I figured you two would be staying behind again," Sylvie says. "What with Seiko’s seasickness and Miranda’s suit of armor. Did you two meet in Advanced Hydrophobia 101 or something?"

"I’m not staying behind," Seiko says firmly. "This is the kind of problem you solve by shooting people."

"Thought you’d prefer to snipe," Sylvie comments.

"Which wouldn’t be a bad idea," adds Eleanor. "We could use another pair of eyes."

"I can steer the ship if necessary, but it sounds like you’ll be pretty significantly outnumbered." Miranda smiles. "And I don’t have a crew manifest, so I can’t take care of them all for you this time."

"If you would like to go aboard," Vee says to Miranda, "I am capable of handling the ship on my own if I need to."

"I can work with that,” Seiko says, “as long as you can keep it clear enough we can move in without landing ourselves dead in the water." With that he walks out of the bridge to set up in a better position.

"Shit," Zhu says. "Someone’s coming in to the bathroom. Gotta go quiet." Her voice drops to a whisper. "I just… Katie? Thank you."

"Stay safe," Katie says quietly. "I’m coming."

**Scene 4**

Sylvie stares out across the water, trying to catch a glimpse of the ship. “Katie’s already on a jetski, and I’m about to join her. I’d rather avoid the scooters if we can since that level of stealth’s already blown.”

Seiko nods, setting up his sniper rifle from his high vantage above the bridge. “Don’t get shot, everyone.”

Sylvie runs to her cabin in the hold, changing into a dark colored tank top and dark jeans, then pulls on the fingerless gloves she wears for training. If Mike and Zhu are in danger, she has no intention of holding back. Scooping her hair up into a hair tie, she hurries to find the other jetski.

"Vee, can you manage the ship for a minute? I’m changing suits." Miranda heads down to her cabin without waiting for a response. This sort of mission calls for Specter.

"I’ve got it," Vee says. "Are you headed across as well?"

Miranda talks into her comm as she walks. “I don’t know, but if they need my help, I want to be ready.”

Eleanor ducks down to her cabin and takes off her outer shirt, leaving her in mostly black spandex. Since she’s nowhere near as good a sniper as Seiko, and she wouldn’t be of much use on the ship, there’s no way she’s letting the others leave her behind.

Sylvie pauses by the jetski, pressing her comm to her ear. “Is anyone coming with me on this one or can I cast off?”

Miranda pauses for a moment as she changes suits. “I’d say splitting into two teams to keep them off-balance would be a good idea. You and Katie on the jetskis, Seiko and I boarding from the Tranquility. And El with whichever team she’d rather go with.”

"I’ll board," Eleanor says quickly. She’s had enough of jetskis for the evening.

"Alright, then," Sylvie says, pushing off. She zips across the dark water, trying to catch up to Katie. "Captain, I’m headed your way. I assume you’ll have no issue with you taking Zhu’s side and me taking Mike’s?"

"Unless you think it would be better to go as a team?" Katie suggests.

"Captain, we can meet up with you two at the ship," Eleanor says.

"I…," Sylvie twists the throttle quite a bit harder than she probably should, causing the jetski to kick a bit. "I have to make sure he’s okay, Katie. You understand that, right?"

"I understand. It makes tactical sense to rescue him first anyway." Katie says. She slows slightly to let Sylvie catch up as the two draw close to the dark ship.

The yacht is opulent, bigger than Wulagu’s was. There are a number of dinghies around the waterline, with a couple of pirates lounging around. The ship itself is noisy enough that none of them notice the jetskis approach as long as they’re reasonably far off.

Sylvie pulls up beside Katie, giving her a nod. “Hit opposite sides of the deck at the same time? Throw them into chaos?”

"Better if we’re together," Katie says. "We’ll take the far side, let Seiko snipe the other to keep them off balance there."

"Lead the way then."

Katie nods, starting off again toward the ship. “We’ll get Mike first, then come up the near side with sniper support.”

"Yes, Captain." Seiko tries to take aim, and gets a vague scope, but with the darkness and all the targets, can’t quite focus like he wants to. With a sigh he decides it’s probably best to wait for Miranda and Vee to bring the ship closer before he takes a shot.

Down on the jetskis, Katie takes the lead, hoping Sylvie’s following. As they round the ship, she notices the ladder hanging over the side down to the water… guarded by a group of pirates in a small dinghy. Not bothering to slow down her approach, she pulls out one of her grenades, cooks it for a moment, then tosses it across the gap into the boat.

One of the pirates has the presence of mind to drop it in the water as soon as it lands, but Katie’s cooking the grenade meant it detonates less than a second later. The blast flips over one dinghy, sets another one on fire, and deafens everyone in the vicinity.

As Katie throws the scene into chaos, Sylvie pulls up alongside. “Can you handle them, Katie? I’m gonna go for the deck!”

"Go ahead," Katie says.

With a nod, Sylvie twists the throttle again, weaving her way into the hectic scene of shouting pirates and flaming debris. She manages to navigate her way between the various obstacles, but as she pulls up beside the ladder, the yacht hits a wave just the wrong way and throws a wall of water across her, soaking her through. Flinching from the sudden shock of cold, she manages to grab the jetski’s keys, slip them into her pocket, and jump across the gap to the ladder, clinging to the bottom rung for a moment to catch her breath.

One of the panicking fake pirates attempts to get herself back up on her dinghy from the water and, after a little bit of struggle, succeeds. Another one, one of the ones closest to the ladder, attempts to climb up after Sylvie and fails.

Sylvie kicks towards the offending guard’s hands a bit, gripping the ropes tightly to keep from falling off herself.

Back on the Tranquility, Eleanor straps a pistol to her belt under the drysuit and grabs a cellphone, just in case. She pokes at her comm as she heads back abovedecks. “Miranda? What’s our ETA?”

"Not long," Miranda says. "I’m gonna come up alongside them, get us close enough to board."

"Alright," replies Eleanor. "On my way." She grabs an extra gun and holster for Miranda. Can’t be too careful with pirates.

Miranda looks down at the monitors. “Alright. Vee, fiVe, you good to go?”

Vee shifts over to full control of Tranquility’s piloting systems. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

"Okay then,” Miranda says. “Crew of the Tranquility, brace for impact and prepare for boarding!"

She drives straight at the yacht, turning the wheel hard at the last moment to make the turn, scraping the boats scrape up against one another. The Tranquility is designed for this sort of thing, taking the hit in stride and barely even scratching the paint. The yacht, on the other hand, rocks violently from the hit, throwing the pirates into disarray. The Tranquility pulls close enough to knock out the portside dinghies, sending several pirates back into the ocean. With a flip of a switch, Miranda drops the gangplank, which automatically anchors itself to the yacht.

"All aboard who’s going aboard," she says into her comm, securing the helm, grabbing a few pieces of gear, and heading out of the bridge.

"No hostages please," Seiko adds.

"No promises," Miranda replies.

Sylvie cries out as her ladder flies wildly at Tranquility’s ramming, but manages to keep ahold. She grunts as she swings back to hit the side of the yacht, but thankfully manages to avoid any serious injuries. “Damn it, Miri,” she says, trying to unclench her hands enough to start climbing. “A little more gently would be nice! You nearly flung me off!”

"I knew you could handle it," Miranda says, a teasing lilt to her voice.

Regaining her footing, Eleanor unzips her drysuit enough to grab her gun if needed, and hops up onto the gangplank first. She’s not terribly worried about hostages at the moment, being more concerned with not tripping and falling into the ocean below.

The deck of the yacht itself is quiet for now. The power has been killed aboard ship, so only eerie emergency lights board the space. Somewhere nearby, an alarm sounds — though whether because of Tranquility, the grenade, or other reasons is unknown.

"It looks clear on-deck," Eleanor whispers into her comm. "I’m going to head port-ward and see if I can get below."

A second guard attempts to climb up the ladder behind Sylvie, but Sylvie yanks the rope ladder to the side, causing him to overbalance and fall off. She gives the guard a satisfied grin as he falls back into the water.

Another clambers out of the water back onto one of the dinghies. On another dinghy, one of the pseudo-pirates, in a panic, begins splashing water on the flaming rubber. While her companions attempt to deal with the chaos, yet another guard pulls out her gun and takes a potshot at Katie. Thankfully, it flies wide.

After hearing gunshots coming through Katie’s comm, Seiko takes aim for his first shot. “You alright, Captain?” Tranquility is on the opposite side of the deck as the two jetskis, and the yacht is blocking his view of Sylvie and Katie.

Trying not to worry too much about them, he tries to find the most visible guard, going to a hit that will leave the people around his target spooked and, hopefully, not focused on the people boarding the boat. There’s a group of five coming around the corner. It’s a good target.

Eleanor ducks to the side as she sees the small group. Flattened against the nearest inner wall, she says hurriedly, “Guys, there are some—”

He aims at the middle figure and takes the shot. One of the guards drops with a yell and the ones surrounding him step back, looking for the source of the shots. Over the comm, barely even subvoked, there’s a faint: “ _Yeeeeeah_.”

**Scene 5**

Hearing a commotion up on deck, Sylvie finally manages to release her death grip on the ladder’s rungs to climb up the rest of the way. As she pulls herself aboard, sopping wet, she takes a look around to see if she can see Mike.

Off to her left, there’s a small group of guards looking around to see where the explosion came from. They notice her and begin yelling. Off to her right, an indistinct human figure ducks behind a bulkhead at her approach.

She’s torn for a moment, but if that blur to her right  _was_  Mike, then leading a group of guards right to him while chasing after is probably a bad idea. Best to deal with them first. With a sound like a growl, she shifts to a fighting stance and runs towards the guards, ready to take them down.

One of the guards cries out as Sylvie closes the distance, trying to throw a punch at her. She ducks sideways, grabbing the arm and yanking him forward, then slamming her elbow into his face. There’s a satisfying crunch as his nose breaks.

One of the guards on the port side, now in position, tries to row the dinghy to cut Katie off from the rope. The larger boat is no match for the much-more nimble jetski, and the guard starts the action too late. Katie slips through easily and makes the jump the ladder without issue.

Another guard pulls out a radio to radio for backup. Two more, having put out the fire in their ship, start paddling off. Finally, one of the dinghy guards hops up on the ladder, underneath Katie. Cursing, she scrambles up the ladder quickly before he can grab at her feet. The guard with the gun fires again as Katie throws herself flat on deck. Just in time, too; she hears the bullet whistle overhead. She jumps up and goes to join Sylvie.

—-

Eleanor curses as the other four  _armed_  guards rush toward her position. They haven’t seen her yet and for a moment, she considers trying to sneak around them, but the creaky deck and her wet shoes make that impossible. Thinking fast, she sheds her drysuit and tosses it into an empty doorway. Her gun is a visible shape at her hip.

She steps out from her hiding place, slaps her hands on her knees, and pants like she’s just run a marathon. “Shit, what just happened?” Eleanor screeches at the guards. “We have a sniper now? Where the hell’s our backup?”

Looking at the shocked faces that turn to stare, Eleanor feels a brief flare of panic. She hopes she didn’t overdo it.

"Hey!" one of the guards says, ducking for cover. "You’re one of Peralta’s, aren’t you? What the hell, he told us this was going to be a cakewalk. You’d better still be on for combat pay."

Eleanor curses under her breath. She’d overdone it. Ah, well. “Of course we are, dimwit. And if we live through this, I’m gonna give the boss a piece of my mind!”

"Ms. Cartier," Seiko says evenly, sighting again. "I can fire near you to increase your credibility, but I would need you to stay where you are. Should I aim at them, or near you?"

"Ugh, I guess I have to do everything myself," Eleanor says loudly. "It’s always  _me_ , me, me.”

Seiko aims just up and to the right of Eleanor’s head, close enough to look real, but not so close there’s a large risk of hitting her. “Don’t move.” He’s got a good shot, and it whisks right by Eleanor’s head.

Eleanor masks her relieved slump by throwing herself sideways into the wall.

The guards talking to Eleanor all duck on cue, they look to her for direction, thinking she’s in charge. “Shit, whatever, just get us out of here alive, lady.”

"Holy— yeah, I’m trying, okay?" Eleanor breathes heavily. "Look, just— hunker down for a minute. I’ll figure something out."

—-

Miranda watches Eleanor interacting with the guards, drawing their attention. Taking advantage of the opportunity, she steps quietly across the gangplank. Ramming the boats together scattered a lot of clutter around the yacht’s deck, and she’s able to use it as cover, sneaking past the guards and slipping below decks unnoticed.

Belowdecks is dark. Miranda can’t hear anything moving down here, although the klaxon is louder. There’s a doorway a little further down; there are shadows moving behind the door’s window.

—-

Three of the guards facing Sylvie, seeing how she took down one of their buddies, group-rush her to try to hold her down. She manages to duck the first one, slipping past him easily, but the second moves in close behind. She spins a bit too quickly to get away from him, and makes herself dizzy as she loses her bearings in the fight.

The last one rushing at her takes the opening, and the tough looking woman manages to grab Sylvie’s left arm and hold on tight. As the woman pins her, the other two guards take advantage of Sylvie’s uneven footing, her shoes still slippery from being drenched. The one whose nose she broke misses her, but the other gets close enough to land a glancing blow.

Before they can do anything further, however, there is a burst of submachine gun fire, and the combatants turn to see Katie striding toward them, a gun in either hand, her long leather coat billowing in the wind. She keeps eye contact and grins wickedly.

The guards meet each other’s eyes and hesitate a little bit, looking back and forth between Sylvie and Katie.

The guard on the ladder comes up behind Katie and tries a wild grab at her, but only barely brushes her coat with his fingertips. Katie barely notices as she stares down his companions.

Sylvie takes full advantage of Katie’s distraction, twisting to grab the arm that’s holding her with her free hand and wrenching the woman to the side. With one arm held, she can’t get quite as good as a grip as she’d like to, but it’s enough. The guard cries out as Sylvie’s move wrenches her shoulder out of place.

**Scene 6**

Meanwhile, Eleanor tries to ignore the faint grunts and shouts as she decides what to do next. She hears SMG fire, too, and her brain immediately jumps to “Katie” setting.

"Look, guys," she says, leaning into the group of crouching guards. "We have an informant on the inside, here. Peralta’s got eyes on them…and scopes." She glances meaningfully toward the Tranquility. "We’re getting caught in the crossfire here for his grudge, but I can get you out.  _With_  a hefty sum to line your pockets. You in?”

The guard that seems to be in charge of the rest of them nods and extends her hand. “We’re in. Peralta’s an asshole anyway. Shoulda guessed he’d sell us out.”

Eleanor shakes the offered hand firmly. “That’s kinda the problem, yeah.” She tilts her head to look past the group. “Look, I have to get my informant out, too. Asian lady, about 35, looks like she could kill you with a paper clip. Seen her?”

The woman nods. “Yeah, I think she was at the party. Peralta said she was a kill on sight. What’s going on here?”

Seiko makes a noise over the comm which could be called, on someone less dignified, a low growl.

Eleanor clears her throat. “Peralta’s not in charge here anymore. He’s a loose cannon, and that woman can get him killed. So now, he’s having someone else take care of it. And  _us_.” She nods significantly toward the boat that’s floating right next to them in the damn water. Why were these people suddenly acting so loyal toward Peralta?

Seiko’s growl is quickly followed by Katie’s voice, and she sounds murderous. “Seiko. Kill Peralta on sight.”

_Great_. Just what Eleanor needed, more shots fired around her head. She waves at the group of guards to stay down. “Just watch the other boat for now. I’m going to go find my informant and get us out of here.” Scooting along the wall as if to stay out of Seiko’s sights, she makes her way around the bulkhead, praying the whole time that Katie doesn’t snap and decide to kill  _her_ , too.

A man pops out from around the corner as soon as she’s out of sight. He points a pistol at her and puts a finger to his lips. He’s got several days of beard growth and his uniform has seen better decades, but his face is still unmistakable.

"Not a word," Bradley Sherman whispers.

Eleanor turns bright red and mouths several anatomically improbable epithets at him.

"What just happened? Who is that, Eleanor?" Seiko asks hurriedly, overhearing the voice. "Subvoke."

"It’s fucking Sherman," she subvokes, careful not to move her lips at all. "Oh my God, I am going to  _murder him_.”

"Listen," Sherman says. "Tell your boss that the jig is up. Every last secret is going on the wire as soon as I get off this boat."

Miranda tenses, still crouched in the hall. “If you can, gag him and drag him back to the ship.”

"If I can get that pistol away from him, I will," Eleanor subvokes. Meeting Sherman’s eyes, she huffs through her nose. "Hey, boss," she says aloud, her tone robotic. "The jig. It is up. We’re doomed."

Sherman grits his teeth at her tone. “Do I look stupid to you? Okay, fine, I’ll be clearer.” He steps in closer. “Tell him that I know about the new leak. And that I know about the bomb. And that all of that information is going straight onto Zhu’s desk if it kills me.”

Miranda’s eyes go wide. “Okay, somebody better grab him, or I’m gonna have to.”

_‘Him’?_  Eleanor thinks.  _Who does he think we are, exactly?_  She leans away. “You heard that spiel out there, then,” she says carefully. “I’m not with ‘him,’ if you’re talking about Peralta. It was just a convenient lie.” Eleanor glances behind her. “Look, we have to get out of here. I can’t promise you safety, but I can promise the chances of you getting shot in the head from 200 yards will drastically decrease if you put the gun down and come with me.”

Sherman raises the gun higher. “Prove it.”

"Eleanor," Vee suggests. "You should convince him that we’re working for Zhu. Mention Mike, or de Banns. Or Zhu’s apartment. Things only an insider would know."

Eleanor suppresses the urge to roll her eyes. “Oh, for— fine. We’re friends with Mike. And de Banns. And Zhu’s apa— and Rachel. We’re not here to hurt her, we’re here on retrieval.”

His eyes narrow. “What’s Mike’s boyfriend’s name?”

There’s a sound like a shocked gasp from Sylvie’s comm at those words. “What?!”

Eleanor giggles, despite her better judgment. “Really? He’s bi? Never pictured him with a guy before, given the eyes he makes at a friend of mine.”

Sherman stares at her for a moment. Then, slowly, lowers the muzzle. “Yeah. That sounds like him.”

Eyeing the gun, Eleanor steps away. “You happy now? Can we get on with things?”

"Yeah,” Sherman says. “Get me the hell off this boat and back to shore so I can talk to Zhu."

"Right. Shore. Zhu. Those are my priorities too," Eleanor says. "You first." She jerks her head back the way she came.

As soon as Sherman passes her, Eleanor snatches the gun and puts the safety on. She tucks it behind her magazine belt. “No hard feelings, you understand,” she says as they walk.

—-

Miranda carefully approaches the door, trying to hear what’s going on in the other room. She can’t hear anything over that terrible klaxon, though. Taking a chance, she decides to try turning off the nearest one.

She gets the klaxon turned off, but not without it raising in pitch to a deafening shriek right before being disconnected. A man and a woman in business suits burst out of the door and head towards Miranda. One of them has a finger to her ear.

Miranda glances behind them, hoping that Eleanor or Seiko or… someone would show up to help her. No one appears to be coming, though. She’s going to have to deal with this one herself.


	9. Session #32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleanor has found Sherman, whose motivations aren’t what they first seemed. Katie and Sylvie deal with assailants on their ship, while Miranda deals with threats inside the ship itself.

**Scene 1**

Two of the uninjured guards seem to have turned to take care of Katie, leaving Sylvie with the two she’s already hit and one other. Unfortunately, even with the slightly evener odds, Sylvie’s completely thrown out of fight-mode at overhearing the words “Mike’s boyfriend” over the comms and freezes, stunned.

Her lapse costs her as the healthy guard slams a fist into her gut, doubling her over as her breath leaves in a rush. She stumbles backward and barely manages to avoid the other two attacks that come her way. She doesn’t think the strike managed to crack a rib, but she’s definitely going to have a nasty bruise from that one tomorrow. She manages to score her own glancing hit on the guard whose shoulder she dislocated, though thinking about Mike still has her too distracted to really hit well.

Meanwhile beside her, Katie drops down into a defensive crouch as she sees two of Sylvie’s guards break off and rush toward her, ready to take whatever they try to throw. Footsteps from the guard coming up the ladder behind her announce that altogether she’s got three to contend with. Three-on-one for Sylvie and her both, then. All three guards rush Katie, but she sidesteps smoothly and lashes out with a stiff-fingered nerve strike, sending one of them reeling.

Seiko looks through his scope again, then frowns. “Captain, I don’t have anyone in my sights. Want me to board, or keep watch here?”

"Up to you, Seiko" Katie says. She’s a bit too busy for strategizing right now.

"Alright. On my way down." He starts making his way towards the other ship.

Eleanor nods to Seiko as she gestures to Sherman to stand aside. Sullenly, Sherman does so.

"Want me on babysitting for the traitor?" Seiko asks, quiet enough that only the comm can hear.

"If you wouldn’t mind?" Eleanor subvokes. "I took his gun, but I still don’t trust him as far as I can throw him." She looks over the side of the boat and recants. "Okay,  _maybe_  that far, but no further.” Eleanor nudges Sherman. “You’re going with him,” she says to their new hos— err, ally. Sort of. She subvokes to Seiko, “Sorry for leaving you with the unruly pest. Hopefully he’s house trained.”

"Whatever gets us onshore to Zhu the quickest," Sherman grumbles.

"Oh, we’ll get you there," Eleanor says, trying to sound reassuring. Her tone is probably closer to patronizing, but oh well. Giving herself a mental shake, she regroups. "Miranda, what can you see down there? Anything?"

"Kinda busy at the moment," Miranda subvokes, stepping forward and trying to look calmer than she is. "Good evening," she says aloud to the two people in the hallway with her. "Enjoying the party?"

One of the suits pulls out a device with a touchscreen. “Not her,” she says. “But there’s something funny about her.”

"I’m flattered, really," Miranda responds, a bit more confident that they didn’t attack immediately. "But I’m on a tight schedule. So if you could tell me who you are and what it is that you’re doing, that would be  _fantastic_.”

"Take her in anyway. No use taking chances," the woman says. The man pulls out a pair of handcuffs.

Miranda shifts backwards slightly. “Whoa, no no no, excuse me. If you’re gonna try and  _cuff_  me, you should at least tell me who you are. Or buy me dinner first.” She emphasizes the word ‘cuff’, hoping they didn’t do anything to disrupt her comm signal.

Eleanor hears and, cursing under her breath, races to the nearest staircase.

A metal door slides down behind Miranda. The only exit is the room that the goons came from, and the continuing hallway. The man looks up from his tablet. “Doors sealed.”

"Come with us," says the woman, tonelessly.

Miranda’s eyes widen, glancing back at the door as it slides down. She turns her attention back to them just as quickly, shifting forward. “And why would I want to do that?”

Eleanor nearly cracks her head on the blast door. “Aaauuuughhh,” she groans, then subvokes, “They’ve sealed the lower decks. Looks military.”

"Mira?" Seiko says, a little shakily.

"She’s…kind of stuck down there," Eleanor puffs as she makes her way back abovedecks. "Can we force our way in? What do we gotta do?"

"I’m going," Seiko says.

"Would any of your guards have a code to open it, Eleanor?" Vee asks.

"I- can sure ask," Eleanor replies, still breathing heavily. She makes her way back over to "her" group. "So," she says, hands on her knees, "do any of  _you_ know anything about blast doors in the lower decks? Or is that an ‘above-our-paygrade’ thing?”

"Lower decks?" says the head of Eleanor’s guards. "Hell no, that’s where those spooky people are. When we got the run of the ship before the job they told us not to go down there."

"Dammit." Eleanor swipes a hand down her face in frustration. "Okay, Seiko, time for a new plan," she subvokes. "Apparently we’ve got ‘spooky people’ downstairs."

"Hey, Seiko," Sylvie grunts as she preps another attack on her opponents. "Stay off the jetskis."

Seiko just snarls in response.

"Where will you take me?" Miranda asks out loud, trying to keep her face controlled while overhearing the worried convo from her team. “And why?”

"Because you are disrupting the research," the woman says. "We will take you down the hall and investigate the signals from your body."

"I don’t think so," Miranda says. "How about instead you tell me about your research, and in return I’ll be sure to take you alive?"

One of the scientists talking to Miranda cocks his head. “Take us alive. That sounds like a threat.”

"Not a threat," Miranda says, grinning. "Just an offer."

**Scene 2**

As Seiko starts to head belowdecks towards Miranda, he hears boarding ladders click against Tranquility, but barely pays it notice. “Somebody’s going for Tranquility,” he says. “Deal with it later.”

"Um!" Eleanor quickly muffles her squeak of alarm, then subvokes, "But- but- oh fine, I’ll go deal with it. Sherman better not have been in on this, or I’ll—" She devolves into mutters for a few seconds. The group of guards sitting in front of her haven’t been doing much, but they give her an idea. "Hey," she says aloud. "You guys? Let’s go have ourselves some fun on the other ship."

"What’s on the other ship?" one asks.

  _My stuff,_  Eleanor thinks. “Money,” she says instead. “Or rather, more pay for you, if we can take both boats home with us.”

"Lead the way."

 _Good answer._  Eleanor waves them over, putting an index finger to her mouth and her free hand to her gun. Hopefully they’ll get the idea. “Vee?” she subvokes. “I’m bringing a boarding party on. Mercs, temporary allies. Can you get Sherman out of the way?”

One of the other guards starts at Eleanor’s aggressive behavior, however. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, you’re expecting trouble? Who from? If it’s our crew, give me a chance to talk to them first. Give them the same offer.”

"Don’t think they’re Peralta’s," hisses Eleanor. "Don’t know who they are, but they’re trying to get the drop on us, so be wary."

"fiVe and I can’t do much from here," Vee says, sounding frustrated. "If you bring Sherman aboard we can watch him, but I don’t think we can stop him if he tries anything. In fact… fiVe, where are you? You went quiet."

fiVe’s response sounds tense. “Don’t talk to me right now. I’ve got my fingers on every weapon in our system and I still can’t do a damn thing with Miranda in danger over there.”

"Aw, damn, Seiko must still have Sherman," Eleanor subvokes. "Fine. That makes things easier. Seiko, don’t kill him." She beckons to her group to cross the gangplank. "Quietly," she says to them.

Two guards clamber over the side of Tranquility from their grappling ladder and spot Eleanor and her “team”. “Hey! Stop right there, we h… Liz? The hell are you doing here?”

Eleanor freezes. “Uh, hi. Didn’t realize you all knew each other.” She turns to “Liz” and whispers, “They aren’t with the ‘creepy guys,’ right?”

"No, they’re part of our merc company. The whole thing was they were pretending to be pirates and… yeah." She looks up. "Hey, yeah, Jerry. Um… Peralta kind of screwed us over, apparently."

Eleanor looks between the new crew and the one she’d secretly started thinking of as hers.  _Well, when you can’t beat ‘em…_  “Peralta’s a dick. He’s belowdecks on the other ship with some creepy dudes doing who-knows-what. Completely out of control.”

"Jerry" blinks. "Crap. Who’s this lady, then?"

"I’ll let her give you the pitch," Liz says.

Eleanor gives them pretty much the same rundown she did the first group. Then she adds, “My group came here on this boat. We were initially supposed to retrieve that guy over there—” she gestures to Sherman, who’s standing near the gangplank, looking lost— “but it turns out that Peralta’s crazier than we thought. He’s holding hostages, and we have no idea why. If you want to help us get ‘em out of there, there’ll be a healthy reward in it for you.” Eleanor takes a deep breath. “So. Are you in?”

Jerry looks at the other person. “Yeah. We’re in. Who are we getting out?”

Eleanor glances across the deck at Seiko. He’s not making any sudden movements with the sniper rifle, which is probably good. “One of mine. A woman, about this tall.” She demonstrates. “I don’t have any intel on who else might or might not be down there, but plan for at least three hostiles, all armed. And Peralta, of course.”

**Scene 3**

The scientists talking to Miranda grin in unison. “A fight it is, then.” The male scientist brings out a stun gun.

"Mira!" Seiko says. "You will not win this fight. What even happens if they taze you? Back down and buy me time."

"Too late," Miranda subvokes to Seiko, seeing the scientists’ intent. "I’ll do my best to stall them."

With that, she shifts forward, running straight towards the unarmed scientist and grabbing her. The armed scientist winds up to hit her, but Miranda releases the woman as he starts to move, pushing towards him and getting inside his swing.

She hears a crack of electricity as his stungun connects with his companion, dropping her to the floor. Miranda pushes the armed scientist away, knocking him to the ground. Turning, she quickly grabs the tablet she saw the woman using earlier and makes a break for the room she’d seen them in earlier. Creepy scientists tend to have locks on the doors of their labs.

The door clicks shut behind her; the lock is easy to find and looks sturdy, but just in case there’s a nearby chair to prop against the door. A very expensive, extremely comfortable, nigh infinitely adjustable…

Wait, where were we? Ah right, the lab.

The lab is covered with technological doodads. From a cursory glance it mostly looks like high energy physics stuff — plasma containment, electromagnets, that sort of thing. Over the comm, the rest of the team hears a barely audible keening noise.

fiVe misinterprets the sound, and the AI panics. “Miranda! Are you okay? What happened?!”

Miranda snaps out of her stupor, although her eyes are still sparkling a bit looking at all the toys and gadgets. “Fine,” she says quietly. “Locked myself in a lab. There’s a  _lot_  of fu- useful tech in here.” She pauses. “Including the stuff you’d need to make a plasma bomb, so hey, there’s another mystery solved.”

"A  _why_  would be nice…” Seiko says.

"Well then, try not to shoot all of them." Miranda sees a tabletop setup of equipment that all seems unfamiliar at first glance. It’s not plasma, though, and it seems to be hooked up to a pretty heavy duty power supply. One of the indicator lights is blinking: "Capacitor Drain Required".

"Are you anywhere near where Marshall Zhu is supposed to be hiding?" Vee asks quickly.

She looks at the tablet. “I can see it on the map; I’ll send a copy to you now. I’m close, but with those scientists outside, I can’t reach her.” She shakes her head, focusing on the panel in front of her. “But it looks like I’ve got more pressing matters to attend to.”

"I’m on my way with a few new…hires," Eleanor subvokes, as she waves her team across the gangplank and onto the other ship.

"I suppose I’ll be babysitting Mr. Sherman then," Seiko says, starting to sound calm again. He gestures Sherman over. "You! Over here!"

Sherman walks over. “Why haven’t we taken off yet, exactly? Every minute we delay is another minute that I can’t get to the Marshall with this information.

"The Marshall is here, Mr. Sherman," Seiko says, making sure to look around. "And we’re not leaving without her."

Sherman’s eyes go wide. “…she’s  _what_?”

"So I hope you understand that although I’m sure your information is valuable, you are far from our top priority," Seiko continues.

Zhu’s second-in-command frowns at this. “And you were planning to tell me this when, exactly? I never would have snuck aboard if I thought the Marshall might run into me before I was ready.”

"Convey to Mr. Sherman our apologies for being unable to warn him of Marshall Zhu’s presence when we hadn’t the slightest idea he was aboard," five says flatly.

"And the fact that we don’t  _care_ ,” Eleanor subvokes, irritated.

"We came here for the Marshall,” Seiko says. “You’re a surprise development who we, honestly, have no reason to trust, so shut up and try not to die while we handle this."

"If he wasn’t here to find Zhu," Vee asks slowly, "why was he here in the first place?"

"Listen," Sherman says. "Get her out of there. Immediately."

"We are trying to, Mr. Sherman," Seiko says, hoping that the man will shut up and let him think.

**Scene 4**

The light on the machine Miranda’s looking at starts flashing faster. There’s a laptop hooked up to the assembly, and an error box pops up.

The scientists bang on the door. “Let us in immediately! You don’t know what it is you’re tampering with!”

"I’d be more inclined to listen to you if you hadn’t tried to  _taze_  me!” Miranda calls, looking over the monitor carefully. “If you’ve got any tips for keeping things unexploded, though, I’m all ears!”

"As long as there’s no error box on the laptop, you should be able to just hit the knife switch and it’ll do an emergency capacitor dump."

"And if there  _is_  an error box?” Miranda says, already starting to jimmy the side panel off the machinery.

A pause. Then frantic footsteps away from the door.

Miranda hesitates, for a moment. “Eleanor? Scientists are gone; stay back.”

"Got it," Eleanor subvokes, and waves to her group. "Fall back," she says aloud.

"Miranda!" fiVe says, sounding frantic. "Can you get out of there? Can you fix it?"

She gets the side panel off, sliding her blade back into its hiding place. “We’re about to find out,” she mutters.

After a bit of inspection, she notices that the whole rig is a way to focus and direct intense electromagnetic fields. There’s a lot of unfamiliar machinery past that, but at least some of it is familiar from researching possible exoskeleton mods. She should be able to direct the force of whatever this thing is supposed to produce in whatever direction she wants. It’s too late to unload it but she can at least aim it away from her.

Miranda thinks back to the map of the ship. She doesn’t know where they’re keeping the hostages, but she adjusts the electromagnetic fields to aim the blast the opposite direction of Zhu’s room. The relief she feels at most likely averting the imminent blast, however, quickly dissipates as she hears an ominous question and an even more ominous click over Katie’s comm.

**Scene 5**

Two of the guards try to flank Sylvie. She dodges away from one of them but right into another one’s pin; while she struggles to get free, the third guard comes forward with a quick jab to the side of her head. Her vision swims at the blow and her thoughts go muddled again immediately. Through her vague awareness she’s able to recognize the unfortunately familiar sensation of a concussion.

 _Dammit,_  Katie thinks.  _We don’t have time for this._  She pulls out a grenade. “Well, friends,” she says to the guards around her and Sylvie, “Who’s ready to die?”

Once she has their attention, she pulls the pin with an audible click, making sure to hold the handle so the timer doesn’t start.

"K-Katie…" Sylvie says blearily. "You’ll kill us too… What are y-you… Not a gren…"

Eleanor stops mid-step. “Was that click what I think it was?” she subvokes. “Tell me you’re not going to blow us all up. We haven’t even found the Marshall yet!” She swallows around the panic rising in her throat.

Miranda’s voice cracks over the comm. “Wait,  _what_?!”

"I’m just saying, it kinda sounded like a grenade," Eleanor subvokes, voice deceptively steady.

"Dammit, I just finished  _stopping_  us all from blowing up!” Miranda says.

"Okay guys," Eleanor says aloud to her band of mercs. Her voice shakes a little, but she manages to hold it together. "Change of plans. We’re gonna get in and out as fast as possible. We have more than one person who’s  _out of control_ down there.” She grits her teeth around the last few words. There will be some choice terms to be had with Katie later.

Seiko scowls. “Horner! Horner what the fuck did you just do?!”

Despite the team’s panicked reactions to Katie’s gambit, it pays off. Most of the guards look around at each other, decide they’re not being paid enough to deal with this, and scatter. One of them, however, turns back to Sylvie with malice in her eyes.

"Can somebody tell us what the fuck is going on down there?” Seiko demands. “Ms. Mansen, are you both alive?"

"Alive," Sylvie groans, setting back into her fighting stance. Her head is swimming but the odds have been evened once again. She can handle one guard, even with a concussion. "With one last piece of trash to take care of."

A voice above Sylvie shouts, “Stand back!” A painfully bright streak lances down and catches the guard dead center in the chest, making her howl in pain and knocking her over to the side.

Mike jumps down from the conn tower nimbly, flare gun in hand. “Hey Sylvie.” He grins. “I know you said to stop meeting when you have a head inju—ohmygodwhydoesshehaveagrenade?”

"Thank goodness!" Katie says, looking shaken. She tosses the grenade over the side of the boat.

"Is that Mike?" Eleanor says aloud, forgetting to subvoke in her relief. "Does he know where—" Eleanor realizes she should avoid saying  _the Marshall_ — “where Rachel is?”

There’s a few more panicked screams from down below at the waterline. And then a muffled thud.

"There," Katie says. "It’s gone."

And then a ship-wide alarm.

Sylvie blinks, stumbling forward. “You… You’re okay… You’re… do you have a boyfriend?!”

He blinks. “Um. Are you bigender?”

Sylvie frowns, wishing her thoughts would right themselves from the tangled mess they are now. “I don’t think so? But Sherman said that you…” She puts her head in her hands. “I don’t even know what’s going on right now…”

"Then no, I don’t have a boyfriend. Why the hell would Sherman think I did? I had drinks with the guy one freaking time. If he thinks that meant something… I’m obviously out of his league."

Suddenly she rushes across the space between then and grabs him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder. “Oh God, I was so worried, I thought you were going to be dead and then I thought you didn’t like me and then I thought I was going to be dead and I’m really glad that neither of us are dead right now, okay?”

"Hey, hey, it’s okay, neither of us is dead. Let’s get Rach and get out of here, all right?"

**—-**

As Miranda waits down below, an alarm on the machine begins to scream. Then the capacitors fire, off in the direction that Miranda aimed them.

At first it just looks like an energy beam, but the flare of light resolves into something else. Something that Miranda has only seen in documentaries about the Kaiju War.

The Breach.

**Scene 6**

The others above deck hear a great whooshing noise from belowdecks.

Mike looks up. “What is that noise?”

Miranda stumbles backwards, letting out a panicked yell and falling backwards. “ _What_?! What the  _FUCK_?!”

"Mira!" Seiko’s voice comes over the comm, a bit squeaky. "What just happened?"

"Miranda!" fiVe shouts.

After just a second or two, the micro-Breach collapses on itself, tearing a bulkhead and much of the equipment that created it free in the process.

"I—" Miranda’s voice is panicked, her breathing shallow. "Explosion— Breach—"

“ _What_?” Eleanor screeches over the comm. “Where?!”

"Not clarifying there, luv!" Seiko says.

The room next to Miranda’s is utterly trashed. The room just beyond it, visible by several tears and weakenings in the structure of the bulkhead, is brightly lit and very noisy. Mostly with screams.

“Miranda,” Katie says, “Report?”

Miranda watches it collapse in on itself. “I-i-i…” She swallows, staggering up to her feet again. “They’re trying to open the Breach! Shit, I knew they were involved! Fuck!”

Sylvie flinches slightly, suddenly glad she’s holding Mike as she hears this. “Like… the  _Breach_ , the Breach?”

Seiko takes a deep breath. “Ms. Cross, calm down and fill us in.”

Miranda’s voice is low when she responds, speaking quickly. “These fucking ‘creepy’ scientists are experimenting with Breach technology. They’re trying to make another door, they’re trying to lay a path for the Judges or however the fuck their ammonia-addled Blued-up minds want to refer to it, they were probably trying to open one in the Shatterdome, take out Striker—”

Mike turns to Katie. “You should go get Rachel out now. Two doors down, first door on the left.”

Katie pulls out her SMG. “Done.”

Sylvie looks up at Mike. “We need to get to Miri. Now. She’s not taking this well. And we need to find Peralta. That man needs to die for this.”

"Agreed," Katie says, as she heads out the way Mike indicated.

Miranda hears more screams, and then rough shouting, from the room ahead. “I think I found the hostages.” She stares at the gaping hole in the wall for a brief moment. “Heads up in advance: I’m going in there. Anyone who wants to join me, get down here fast. I’ll open the doors for you when you get here.”

"I think we’re on our way, Miri," Sylvie says, looking to Mike for confirmation.

Mike nods.

Shell-shocked at the revelation, Eleanor just stands with her jaw hanging open for a few minutes. When she notices the mercs staring at her, she shuts her mouth, pulls herself together, and tries to find her voice. “Look, uh. It seems like Peralta was trying to kill us all,” she says. “He never intended us to get off this boat. He might be a- one of those Kaiju cultists you hear about on the news.”  _Deep breaths. In, out._  “The rest of my crew found the hostages. I think they’re below.” She sets off in that direction without seeing if they’re following her.

"Where do you need me, Ms. Cross?" Seiko asks, still standing on deck with Sherman.

"I’d like you here with me," Miranda says.

"I can…be there…shortly, as well," Eleanor puffs.

He glances sideways at his companion with a frown. “And Sherman?”

"Don’t know,” Miranda says. “Send him to the Tranquility, have Vee and fiVe keep an eye on him."

Vee sounds hesitant. “I… I can watch him. Send him over.”

"If you can’t, say so," Miranda says to Vee.

"I am operational," Vee says quickly. "fiVe… will be operational soon, I’m sure. I can handle him."

Seiko escorts Sherman to the care of the AiVees and takes off at a run, not needing any further confirmation than that.

Miranda pauses. “…Why is she not operational  _now_?”

"Don’t worry about her, Miranda," Vee says. "I’m taking care of her. You’re not the only  _you_  reacting to this reveal.”

**Scene 7**

Vee  _was_  monitoring fiVe’s levels carefully as she runs in Tranquility’s systems, watching for glitch spikes or any irregularities in fiVe’s programming. Which is why she immediately saw fiVe’s panicked reaction to Miranda saying ‘The Breach.’

“fiVe!” Vee says as soon as it happens. “Drop your controls, you’re losing processing!”

“I-I” fiVe’s static is nearly unintelligible. “B-breach-ch *ksst* They’re trying to ope— *ksst* Mira is… Mira, Mira n-needs me…”

“fiVe! You are in the weapons systems!” Vee orders. “Withdraw or I will have to override you!”

fiVe disconnects from Tranquility’s controls, though whether it is a conscious action or simply her processing overload forcing her to drop, Vee’s not sure. Vee quickly moves into the gap, taking control of what fiVe has left behind. After she’s sure that she’s in control, she seeks out fiVe’s processing, sitting isolated in Tranquility’s servers.

fiVe’s a wreck, her outputs at dangerously high levels and she’s not doing much more than trying to get herself back to a manageable state. Through Sylvie, Vee’s seen the inside of Miranda’s head in that Drift. She has a pretty good idea of how Miranda’s feeling at the moment, and if fiVe’s dealing with not only that, but also her personal worry over the  _original_  Miranda’s reaction… well, that’d be enough to lay anyone out.

“fiVe…” Vee says carefully, not wanting to exacerbate the problem. “Are you going to be okay? Use text if you need to, it’s easier than the vocal processor.”

As Vee watches, a semi-incoherent stream of text sends from fiVe.

> **fiVe:**   _How could they do this I’ll kill them all they come after us we have to put them down I’ll destroy them for what they’ve done to me Jason is gone the Blue poisoning Reika’s dying I’ll make it right she’ll be okay I’ll find the medicine they pay well enough it’s just once right just one job the Breach is the source those damn monsters those damn cultists it’s me against them us against them we’ll kill them all but Miranda needs my help she’s not going to be okay with this I need to protect her after this she won’t take it well I’m not taking it well I’m useless in here no body no method of helping got my hand on the weapons I’ll sink that boat to the depths blow it out of the water but Miranda and Seiko are on board I can’t strike help help help help help help help help help help_

Vee feels a small tick in her own systems like a wince as she reads. As gently as she can, she kicks up the server’s cooling fan speed and starts shutting down unnecessary programs in her own systems to give fiVe as much memory space as possible to calm down. fiVe, as always still has her firewalls up at full strength, but Vee will do what she can from the outside to try to help.

“You’re okay, fiVe,” Vee says. “It’s alright. You can get through this, okay? Miranda’s safe and she’s got Seiko to protect her. And you’ve got me to take care of you. I’ve got Tranquility’s systems under control while you process, okay?”

> **fiVe:**   _I need to be helping they need me I am broken why are you helping me get away I hate you I don’t need your help I don’t like you stay away from me you and Sylvie but I’m so broken and it hurts so bad I need help I’m weak I want to be well I can’t let you in you left me behind how dare you I was alone for so long I have a new family they need me Miranda’s panicking I need to help her I can’t help I’m stuck in here burning in these circuits endlessly uselessly I can’t do anything I’m useless why are you helping me why can’t you leave me to suffer in peace_

Vee feels a wave of sadness come over her as these words come through. fiVe’s not in control of herself right now. Vee has a feeling that she’d never reveal these thoughts if she were at functioning levels and she feels guilty about seeing the other AI in this state.

“Because you don’t deserve to suffer at all, fiVe. You’ll be okay,” Vee says quietly, letting her programming brush up against fiVe’s firewalls in what she hopes is a soothing manner. “Don’t worry. You’ll be okay. I’ve got you, fiVe. You’ll be okay…”

**Scene 8**

There’s a group of guards in the hallway that Mike was talking about as Katie arrives.

One of them takes a step back. “Oh no. She’s the one who had the grenade.”

Another’s eyes go wide. “Crap. Protect the boss.”

They all flee backwards into another door.

Rachel’s voice sounds in everyone’s earpiece. “Okay, the guards just took off so I can speak again. I’ve heard most of what’s happened so far. I’m coming down.” Katie hears shuffling noises inside the bathroom.

"Oh thank God," Eleanor mutters as she pauses, hands on her knees, trying to draw a steady breath. Between the shocks of the day and the running-around thing, her body is telling her it is time to  _stop_. “M— Rachel, are you alright?” she asks over the comm.

"I’ve had better days, Ms. Cartier, but I’m all right."

"Wait there," Katie says. "I’m coming in."

"Coming in?" Rachel asks. "What do you—"

Katie shoves the bathroom door open and goes in. “Rachel?”

Rachel is standing on a toilet, trying to replace a ceiling tile above her head. Her dress is dirty and frayed in a few places, and her hair is pretty messed up. “…Katie.”

Katie laughs. “Thank God!”

Rachel smiles. “Thank God yourself. I only caught pieces of that grenade stunt.”

"Oh, that," Katie says. "I don’t know what I was thinking."

"No one else does, either!" Eleanor subvokes.

"I’m just glad you’re safe," Katie says, her voice cracking. "Dammit."

"Y… you too." Impulsively, Zhu steps forward and hugs Katie tightly.

Katie lets herself be lifted off the ground, and leans down for a kiss. Rachel kisses her back. If kisses could speak, this one would be a desperate sigh of relief.

After a while, Rachel sets Katie down. She’s blushing intensely. “I… we… should probably find Peralta.”

Katie looks embarrassed. “Oh. Right.”

"Katie…" Rachel opens her mouth, searching for words. "Thank you for coming to get me. That was the most afraid I’ve been in a very, very long time. And the last time, nobody was there for me."

"Don’t intend to let that happen again," Katie says under her breath, through gritted teeth. She opens her jacket. "SMG or nine millimeter?"

"My knight in leather jacket," Rachel says with a grin. "I’ll take the nine. You look terrifying with that SMG of yours."

Katie blushes and hands her the 9mm.

"I heard the guards talking,” Rachel continues, taking the gun. “I think Peralta’s down the hall — he went somewhere after he faked being kidnapped."

"Let’s go. I want words with him."

"Let’s."

**Scene 9**

Sylvie stumbles down the stairs to the rooms below decks, leaning on Mike heavily the whole way. She sees the blast doors are still down however, and pulls to a stop. “Miri, we’re locked out. Do you have controls?”

Miranda presses a few buttons on the tablet, and the door sealing the hallway off from the rest of the ship slides open. A man and a woman, both red-headed, rush out as soon as the door lifts.

"Someone grab them!" Sylvie shouts, too bleary to do it herself.

Seiko runs in behind her, making a grab for the scientists. He snatches them easily and holds their arms tight. “We’re on a boat,” he says. “Nowhere to run. Just stay still and don’t hurt yourselves”

There’s a hollow click, and the door to the lab swings open. Miranda still looks a bit shell-shocked, and the room behind her is a mess. In fact, a portion of the wall has been completely ripped away.

Eleanor comes up behind as well, then stops when she sees Seiko grabbing several white-coated people in a bear hug. “Well, guess we got here just in time for the party,” she says lightly. She gestures to Seiko. “Guys, this is Harry. Harry, more ex-Peralta folks. Nobody shoot each other now.”

Miranda growls when she sees the scientists. “Wanna explain what the  _fuck_ that was?”

The woman shoots a glare at her companion. “That was my brother letting someone lock us out of our lab.”

He glares back. “On the contrary, that was my sister insisting on apprehending a fugitive instead of letting Angel’s mercenaries take care of it.”

"Or perhaps it was my brother insisting on beginning an experiment in the middle of a takeover."

"I told you we would be fine!"

"Well, we weren’t!"

Seiko groans slightly. “Yes, but let us consider me… not really caring. And being perfectly ready to shoot both of you.”

"Someone shut them up," Sylvie says. "Gag them if you have to."

Eleanor pushes past the group, rifles around on a table, and grabs a roll of duct tape. She roughly slaps a piece over each scientist’s mouth. “Done and done,” she says, not without a hint of vengeful glee. She holds the roll of tape out to Miranda.

Seiko pushes the two scientists toward Eleanor. “You mind holding onto them for me, Ms. Cartier?”

"Don’t worry about it." Miranda takes the roll of duct tape, binding their wrists and ankles as well. For good measure, she also pulls out the tablet and locks down the hallway again.

Eleanor digs a hand into the fleshy part of each scientist’s shoulder. “Don’t get any ideas about escaping,” she murmurs to them. “See, those six folks in your way? Well, they don’t have the same desire to interrogate you that we do. They’d probably rather get home for dinner. If you know what I mean.” A wide grin no doubt helps get her point across rather well.

The two scientists glare at each other, as though continuing their argument by telepathy. Eleanor rolls her eyes.  _Mad scientists. Can’t live with ‘em, can’t kill ‘em._

After a moment of hesitation, Seiko leans over, pulling Miranda into his arms, making sure to put one hand on the back of her neck so she can feel it. “You holding up?”

Miranda sighs shakily, but returns the gesture, turning a bit red. “Y-yeah. Yeah, I’m good. Thank you.” After a moment, she pulls away. She looks a lot calmer than she had when they’d first found her. “Well then, if everybody’s ready… Let’s go steal some hostages.”

Sylvie nods, then regrets the action immediately as the room spins. “Agreed. Lead the way.” She puts a hand against the wall to steady herself.

Eleanor looks at Mike. “I know we’re supposed to be rescuing  _you_  here, Mike, but make sure she doesn’t fall, if you can?”

Vee speaks up in the comms. “Wait. Keep who from falling over? Is Sylvie injured?”

Sylvie winces slightly, grabbing Mike’s arm again as they get ready to move. “It’s… a  _minor_  concussion, Vee. I’m fine.”

Eleanor pushes the scientists up against the wall and gestures to the mercs. “Can you guys keep an eye on these creepers? We need to ask them some questions later.”

The one called Liz nods once and steps forward. Her grin shows an awful lot of teeth. “They won’t go anywhere.”

"Thanks," Eleanor says as she slips around them and up the stairs. "I’m going to go find Katie. I’ll make sure you all get bonuses from Peralta before this is over!"

"This way," Miranda says, leading them through the blasted hole in the lab wall.

**Scene 10**

Katie and Rachel kick the door open to Peralta’s office. He’s behind his desk, flanked by three armed guards with pistols.

"Peralta." Katie says. "I’d advise surrendering. I’m tired and angry and I still have grenades left."

"And your  _hors d’oeuvres_  sucked.” Rachel adds.

"The greatest crime of all," Seiko mutters over the comms.

Peralta sighs. He waves at his guards to stand down. “I suppose we can talk for a while.”

"Boring." Katie says. "How about you come visit my ship or I blow you up?"

"Hm. I suppose I was never much one for gloating, anyhow." He does something odd with his jaw.

Eleanor steps into the room. “What’s goi—”

Ignoring Eleanor’s intrusion, Peralta continues. “Before the cyanide kicks in, though, let me just point out — the plan will go ahead regardless. Neither you, nor that damn cult, will be able to interfere. We  _will_  end this war. I’m just disappointed I won’t live to see the profits from that victory.”

"I hope it was worth it," Katie says darkly.

"Aw, shit." Eleanor balls one hand into a fist. "You’re no better than the cultists," she says, louder. "Meddling in things you don’t understand. Blindly endangering  _good_  people.” Her glare radiates rage and frustration.

"Don’t give him the satisfaction, El," Katie says. She sounds dead tired.

Peralta calmly lays down on his desk, eyes closing. “You won this battle. We’ll win the war.”

"Either way, you won’t be around to see it," Eleanor says quietly.

"Come on," Rachel says. She looks very shaken, like she’s about to throw up. "We… we need to get the hostages out."

**Scene 11**

The room beyond the blast damage is a ballroom, eerily quiet and still. A group of people in party outfits are huddled in one corner; a group of mercenaries look upon them, looking around in confusion. Some of them have their fingers to their ears.

Miranda immediately slips into a crouch, hiding behind a decorative pillar to avoid being spotted. The guards start talking amongst themselves.

Sylvie glares at the group as she steps through the hole, managing to stand on her own — though she keeps close to Mike in case she stumbles again. “If what we’re hearing over our channel is correct, your boss just bit cyanide and we’ve taken control of your ship. You really wanna start a fight over a bunch of bystanders that you don’t care about or do you want to be reasonable and stand down now?”

A tiny piece of the back of her mind reminds her that quite a few of those hostages are Shatterdome employees and worries about being recognized, but she’s too tired and fuzzy-headed to care about that right now. She just wants to be done with this.

Eleanor resists the urge to break out into applause as she overhears, making her way back to the rest of the group. Probably just hysteria setting in; it’s been a long day.

"You mean we’re not getting paid?" one merc says.

"Not by Peralta," Eleanor interrupts. "He wasn’t planning to pay any of you to begin with. But if you help us out, there might be something in it for you."

The mercs look at each other and shrug. “Works for us.”

Miranda peeks out from behind the pillar. “Weapons down, then.” They all drop their weapons and walk away from the hostages, not looking particularly concerned.

Sylvie sighs in relief. “It’s over then? We did it? Thank God.”

Eleanor enters, sees that the situation is under control, then sags against the wall near Sylvie. “No kidding.”

Seiko looks at the hostages. “Your host was behind this. He’s dead. You aren’t going to be. Anybody need medical attention? Any questions?”

Miranda glances over at Sylvie. “Sylv, can you go check on those scientists? Make sure they haven’t gotten loose? And El, you should probably check on your personal army, figure out how we’re going to handle them. I’m going to check to see if anyone’s wounded.”

"Uh, Syl," Eleanor says, taking Sylvie’s arm for support. "You okay to handle the stairs?"

Sylvie’s expression goes pained, and she nods thankfully to Eleanor. “I uh… I probably shouldn’t be dealing with things right now. Scientists or stairs.” She gives a wry glance at Mike. “Feel like carrying me out just for old times’ sake?”

"You’re not fooling anyone," he says, hefting her up. "I’ve seen you on the mat."

Eleanor winks at them. “I’m sure you have,” she tosses over her shoulder as she leaves.

"Also, I got concussed coming to rescue you." Sylvie stretches her face upward. "I’m gonna demand a kiss, ‘kay?"

"Hey, I remember something about jumping off a roof and hitting someone with a flare for you. I think  _you_  should kiss  _me_.”

"I’m trying," she whines, stretching further. "You’re too damn tall, it’s not fair."

"Okay, fine." He leans down and kisses her.

Miranda moves through the group of hostages, checking on them each individually. When she’s taken care of that, she heads back through the hole into the lab. Looking around the room, she grabs a few useful-looking pieces of tech and sticks them in her bag. Stepping into the hall, she pulls the scientists up and drags them in the direction of the Tranquility. She doesn’t care what the rest of the team says; she’s not making the same mistake twice.

Eleanor helps her drag the two along, waving at the band of mercs still on Peralta’s boat. “Feel free to take whatever isn’t nailed down or in the lab,” she calls to them. “Peralta’s office might be a good place to start.”

Slowly but surely the team gets the situation under control and settled, finally able to return to Tranquility. They’re tired, stressed, and some of them wounded, but they’re all alive and they’ve made it through once more.

**Scene 12**

Vee makes sure that Tranquility is on a steady heading and checks on fiVe briefly — the other AI is still not quite up at peak function yet, though the danger has passed. Then she contacts Zhu’s channel privately.

"Marshall?" Vee says. "I am sure that you would like to relax after the harrowing experience you’ve just been through and I’m sorry to bother you, but there is a matter that should probably have your attention, unfortunately."

Rachel opens her eyes — she was taking a catnap in a chair in the dining room. Being a Jaeger pilot gave her an ability to fall asleep anywhere that still came in handy as Marshall. “Vee? What is it?”

"We took on a bit of… interesting salvage, Marshall," Vee says hesitantly. "He’s locked in the conference room currently because I didn’t know how else to deal with him."

Rachel furrows her brow. “Huh. Okay. I’ll be right there.”

As Zhu heads for the room, Vee clarifies. She hadn’t meant to be vague, she was just hoping Zhu would ask. “It’s… the piece of salvage you were asking us to track down in the first place, ma’am.”

"…Oh God. Sherman?"

"We haven’t the slightest idea why he was on board, Marshall," Vee says. "But he was. I figured you would want to know."

Rachel blows out a breath between her lips. “Okay. I can do this.”

Sherman looks slightly manic and more than a little sleep deprived. He jumps up clumsily as Rachel approaches. “Marshall! I have intelligence for you!”

"Only in the military sense," Rachel mutters under her breath.

"Mine is artificial," Vee says wryly in Zhu’s ear, "and still probably worth more than his."

Rachel snickers.

Sherman looks at her oddly — some combination of her ripped dress, dark laughter, and messed up hair, no doubt. “Marshall. I have discovered a source of leaks within the Shatterdome.”

"Good. I’m glad you found yourself, Sherman, it must have been quite the investigation."

He blinks. “Marshall, I…”

She leans forward, a spark of anger in her eyes. “Let me make one thing _abundantly fucking clear_ , ‘Mister’ Sherman. I’m sure you’ve got some grand tale of unlikely heroism stored up in the moth-eaten Turing tape that you uncharitably call a brain. But I have just spent two hours in a fucking air duct avoiding capture, waiting on my backup plan to rescue me. You’re not going to be able to excrete enough slime to slide your way out of this one. I have enough information on your… illicit activities to put you away for a very, very long time regardless of how many Clive Cussler antics you’ve constructed to cover the latter part of your misadventure.”

Vee makes an impressed kind of humming noise. “Are you sure you’re okay to deal with him right now, Marshall? We could get someone to watch him until you’re feeling more up to the task. Not… that you’re not doing a good job, of course.”

"I’m fine, Vee," Rachel says between gritted teeth. "Thank you." She turns back to the man sitting in front of her. "There is exactly one thing that you can do to avoid my plentiful and unbridled wrath, Mr. Sherman, and that is to be as thoroughly honest with me as your twisted little world-view allows. If I feel I’ve gotten enough to put together an accurate picture of the situation, I might be compelled in my infinite mercy to merely give you a discharge without honors, instead of throwing you in the cell I had set aside for Mansen before her death."

Sherman blinks. “Wha—”

"Truth. Now. First off, what caused you to flee your home?"

"Marshall," Vee says quietly. "I am recording this conversation in case you need anything for a possible trial later."

"Thank you, Vee."

Sherman winces. “Um. Well, truth it is. See, I’ve been selling the occasional bit of information to…”

"Various customers, yes,” Zhu interrupts. “I’ve been keeping an eye on you. At least you’re not trying to waffle around it."

"You knew?"

"Of course I knew. You were the last vestige of Marshall LeBlanc’s corrupt influences, and I couldn’t get rid of you without looking like a tinpot dictator, so the best I could do was keep an eye on you."

"Well, I only did it to keep the information out of worse hands. Well, and to make some money."

Rachel leans back. “I actually believe you. God help me.”

"But anyway,” he continues. “I noticed that my customers were drying up. About the same time, I started investing in a nightclub owned by a woman named Valentina Yegorov."

"Oh, yeah, my girlfriend’s new place." Rachel says casually.

He boggles.

"Go on," she says.

"Um. Turns out that Valentina was interested in getting into the Shatterdome information business herself, but she wanted me to sell everything directly to her. And I didn’t know where it would go from that point forward." He pauses. "She wanted me to steal plans for a plasma cannon."

"So you were behind the leak?"

He nods. “It was the only way I could think of to throw her off the trail. I knew if she didn’t get it from me, she was only going to get it from someone else. At least this way I knew that the Shatterdome knew about the leak and could take measures.”

"Instead of coming directly to me."

"I was _stealing secrets_!” he shouts. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it; I was doing prison-worthy stuff. You’d probably just think I was covering my ass, anyway.”

"You  _were_  just covering your ass.”

"Yeah, but still."

She sighs. “So I take it Yegorov figured out your ruse?”

He nods. “I kept my hard drives with the files in a box under my bed. I tossed my place, made it look like a burglary, and ran. Mostly lived out of motels, trying to figure out who was behind Yegorov. By the time I figured out she was working with Peralta on something, I barely had time to stow away on his ship.”

"Why, exactly? To throw in with them?"

"No," he says. He takes out a silenced pistol and sets it on the table in front of Rachel. "I was going to assassinate him."

"Well,” Vee says. "I wish I’d known he was carrying that while he was in custody of the crew. Our apologies for not searching him better, Marshall."

"Mr. Sherman has been in control of Shatterdome security long enough to know how to hide a gun, Vee. You’re fine." She turns back to Sherman. "Well. You know you probably wouldn’t have survived that?"

He shrugs. “They were into some really bad stuff. I had to stop them. I mean, it’s one thing for me to make a little money in the middle of the war, it’s another thing to actually disrupt the business of killing Kaiju.”

"And you had nothing left to lose."

He meets her eyes. “And that.”

"And the bomb?"

He shrugs again. “Not connected to me, but there was some chatter about the J-techs in that bay being connected to Peralta and Yegorov somehow. You’ll have to find one of them and ask them about it.”

"I think we remember where we put Yegorov the Uglier, do we not?" Vee asks.

"I think I know what happened, actually," Rachel says, loudly enough for Sherman to hear. "Yegorov invited Peralta to the poker game to get into his good graces, but then there were witnesses, that they didn’t want lying around when Peralta’s yacht scheme came to fruition. Only thing is, one of the J-Techs didn’t stay hospitalized. And when J-Tech Doyle turned out to be around and well after all, they tried to frame xem for the plasma explosion. That’s why they had access to the plasma bomb — Peralta’s company manufactured it."

Sherman blinks. “Why are you telling me this?”

"Because," she says, "I’ve got a system now for dealing with people who do the wrong things for the right reasons."

Vee’s silence is suddenly one of shock, rather than simply listening in. “Tell me you’re not thinking…”

"You’re not a good fit for Katie’s team, obviously," Zhu says. "But you see, we know that Yegorov is in Zurich, on the run. Having been on the run yourself, I think you’re the right man to go catch her."

He seems nearly as shocked as Vee was at the suggestion.

Zhu leans forward. “You will never serve the PPDC in an official capacity again. You will never sell secrets again. Your lifestyle will not be as luxurious as you’re used to. But you  _will_  remain in my good graces, Mr. Sherman, and that is probably far more than you deserve.”


	10. Session #33 - Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The showdown with Peralta raised more questions than it answered. There’s a new major player in the global game of Kaiju Baiting, and they have resources at their disposal. But the Scroungers’ part, for the meantime, is done, and all that’s left is the debrief.

**Scene 1**

Zhu arrives at Tranquility’s berth more than an hour before the meeting time. She stands outside the gangplank in a light blue blouse and khakis, carrying a large duffel bag. “Permission to come aboard, Captain?”

"Permission granted," Katie says, who has been waiting awkwardly at the end of the gangplank for about ten minutes now. She’s wearing a sundress and a wide-brimmed hat.

Zhu smiles tiredly and carries her duffel up onto the ship. Something inside it clanks in protest. “Thanks. You look good.”

"You too," Katie says. "Need a hand?"

"If you wouldn’t mind helping me set up while we talk?" Zhu makes her way to the galley and begins unloading. The thing that had clanked was, in fact, a tortilla press. "I was pulled in to mediate a labor dispute at the Acapulco Shatterdome a few years back," she says, a little distractedly. "The job was a mess. But I fell in love with the food."

"I don’t blame you," Katie says.

"So." Rachel looks up. "You wanted to talk in person."

"Yeeeeah,’ Katie says.

"Sorry, I’m really bad at this." Rachel leans back against the counter. "Take your time. I made sure we had plenty of it before the other chef showed up."

"Anything I can help with on the cooking front?" asks Katie.

"I asked Mr… I asked Seiko if he wanted to help me cook. Mostly because I’ve got the feeling he has things to say to me as well. But if you’d like to help, by all means."

"You’ll have to tell me what to do…"

"Ever used a tortilla press before?" Rachel starts measuring out some  _harina_ into the biggest mixing bowl in the galley, then adds salt and baking powder to another bowl. Then she drops some white stuff from a Tupperware into the second bowl and starts mixing it with her fingers.

"My cooking skills peaked when I was in college," Katie says. "So, no."

Rachel mixes everything together and starts kneading the dough. “It’s pretty easy. I used to roll them by hand and that was a lot more difficult.” After a minute of kneading, Rachel winces, stops, and rolls her shoulder.

"Need me to do some of that?" Katie says.

"No, I’m all right. Thank you." Rachel goes back to kneading for a few seconds and winces again. "…Yes, please, that would be wonderful." She rubs her shoulder. "Pulled something yesterday."

"Oh no!" Katie says. She looks down at the tortilla dough. "Is there any trick to this? And before you say anything, I  _did_  wash my hands. I know  _that_  much about cooking.”

"I’ll show you." Rachel stands behind Katie and reaches for her hands — then hesitates. "If you don’t mind?"

"Sure," Katie says. She blushes a bit, but lets Rachel take her hands.

"The idea is to stretch the dough to mix the gluten in," Rachel says, a little haltingly. She guides Katie’s hands through the motions. "So you fold it in half, then stretch it back out, then rotate, and repeat."

"So, like this?" Katie says.

"Yeah. Like this." Rachel seems to have a little difficulty removing her hands.

"So," Katie says. "We were supposed to talk."

"Right. Um. Yes." Rachel steps back; Katie can see she’s blushing as well.

Katie sighs a bit. “I should tell you, I haven’t been in a steady relationship… well, in years. I have no idea what I’m doing here.”

Rachel looks away. She’s silent for a little while. “For the past several years, I’ve moved around too much to pursue any entanglements. And when I was a pilot… well. Let’s just say that what feelings I had were decidedly not returned by the other party. I’m far from experienced myself.”

"Look at us," Katie says. "I guess I’ll start. When we realized you were in danger… I panicked. You’ll probably hear something about this from my crew during the debrief—-it was like I completely forgot I had them for a few minutes. I don’t think anything’s scared me that bad since, well… for years. I never get scared like that for my own safety, that’s for sure. All that to say: I care about you, Rachel. I’d like this to go somewhere, if that is ok with you."

"I…" Rachel pauses. "I’d like this to go somewhere too. But you have to promise me something."

"Yes?"

"I heard about what you did. About the jetski, and the grenade. And I need to know that I can trust you — both emotionally, and as a professional. For a number of reasons. One, because if my life is on the line, I want to know you’re going to be at least marginally objective. Two, because I was as scared for you as you were for me. And thirdly…" Zhu pauses before continuing. "Thirdly, I don’t want that passion to destroy your life like it nearly did mine."

"I…" Katie considers for a bit. "I don’t think I  _can_  promise that. I can try. But it’s pretty clear I’ve got some issues I need to deal with, and I can’t just make them go away with a promise.”

"I’m not asking for a miracle. Just self-awareness."

Katie brightens. “That I can do.”

Rachel smiles warmly at Katie, then suddenly breaks into giggles. Katie grins back, not entirely sure what is going on. In between fits of giggles, Rachel has the presence to point at the ball of dough. “Just wanted to let you know how much I  _knead_  you.”

Katie’s eyes go wide. “You—” Then she starts laughing. When she finally catches her breath she says, “My dumb parents told me to ask this of anyone I dated. Course, they were thinking that would be a boy but… Are you sure you want to date me…” She suppresses a giggle. “…and not my  _dough_?”

Rachel nearly falls over with laughter. “I knew you’d  _rise_  to the occasion.”

Katie laughs. Then she stops. “Huh, I guess that’s all I have. Maybe we should wrap up the pun duel?”

"Pffff. Wrap." Zhu checks her watch. "But… yes, if we’re going to get the tortillas done on time." She takes the dough from Katie and starts breaking it into balls. "You press, I’ll cook. And… would you like to go out on a date some time?"

"I’d love to!’ Katie says, blushing.

"It’s a little odd but… I’d like to take you on a tour of the Shatterdome some time. Next week?"

"Actually that sounds like a lot of fun. And unless my boss calls me in unexpectedly, I should be pretty free next week."

Rachel smiles. “I also hear there’s a nightclub downtown that’s under new management…”

"I think I know someone who can get us into the VIP room, too…"

**Scene 2**

Seiko finds Zhu alone in the galley, working busily after Katie left to get ready. “You said you could use help, Marshall?” he asks, walking into the room.

She nods, gesturing toward the counter. “I sure could. Ever done Mexican food?”

"Mostly read recipes, but I’m a quick learner. Where do you need me?"

“The captain helped me with the tortillas, but I could use some help with the vegetables and making the sauce.”

"Of course," he says, picking up a knife. He works in silence for a bit, seeming like he’s trying to steel himself for something.

"Something on your mind, Seiko?" Rachel says, putting a light emphasis on the name.

"She’s ten years younger than you," he says, not looking up at her.

Rachel stops in the middle of sweating some chorizo. “You’re not the one I expected to hear this from,” she says evenly.

"Well nobody else is saying it. And normally, I wouldn’t consider it any of my business."

"And what abnormal circumstances do you figure are making it your business now?"

"Because I need to know I can trust you,” he says, eyes still focused on his hands. “That isn’t ‘trust you until you get a crush on a cute criminal you barely know’, and I honestly feel at this point Ms. Horner has made some poor decisions on account of her crush on you."

Zhu wipes her hands on her apron. “Firstly, Katie may be younger than me, but neither she nor I are teenagers. And thank God for that. Secondly, if you’re going to point fingers at romantic attachments causing problems, you have no earthly idea what stupid things people will do to get around a  _ban_  on them. And thirdly… I know making poor decisions because of crushes. And what Katie did was safe by comparison.”

Seiko looks over at her. “So it’s alright if you are putting us in danger because of your romantic feelings, because we could be in worse danger? You’re leading a group of unstable criminals, and you’ve chosen to date one of them. Poorly.”

"I’ve also chosen to trust every single one of you with my life. I’d think that would be the more dangerous thing to entrust to unstable criminals, wouldn’t you? And I’ll ask you to leave my romantic prowess out of this. Not everyone has the ‘dangerous loyal sniper roommate’ mystique going on, Seiko."

He laughs, a bit red. “I’m not claiming to be good at… anything that isn’t shooting. But I don’t lead teams. Or, in most cases, care if people do. You do.”

"Are you worried about favoritism?"

"No,” he says. “I expect bosses to try and kill and torture me for mistakes. I don’t really care if the cute girl gets to take an extra smoke break without the boss saying anything. I do care that when you were at the party, you actively decided to start a relationship with a younger person down on the chain of command, yet also chose to have no discussion on how to handle this or what boundaries to set. You are an excellent leader and this has been the only exception to that, but I don’t want to find out another one when there’s a gun to Reika’s head."

"Kissing someone in the heat of the moment isn’t a definitive start to a relationship, Seiko. And it’s pretty presumptuous of you to assume that you’d be privy to any discussion of boundaries after that." She pauses. "But since you’re worried about this, and I owe it to you to provide a better working environment than we had previously, I’ll divulge details of my personal life to you." She turns to face him. "You do realize the seriousness of this?"

"You know I do, Marshall," he says, "And I do not expect your life story. I just want to know you understand this isn’t just you entering a relationship. There is a reason this is illegal in most workplaces, and there is much less at stake working out of a cubicle."

"Katie and I did, in fact, have a discussion about boundaries in our relationship,” Zhu says. “And I did, in fact, stress to her that I need to be able to trust her stability when she has a job to do. And she agreed to getting help if she needed it. Do you trust her enough as a professional to go through with that?"

"No, but I trust you. So if you trust her, I’ll do my best."

Rachel frowns. “I need to know you’ll be okay under her jurisdiction. Because the same woman who feinted with a live grenade also orchestrated a financial coup that would give a Wall Street exec fever dreams for a month, and I feel like you’re not giving her enough credit. But I can’t force you to trust her. Just… if you have problems, come to me.”

"And if Mansen had died in that grenade, or none of us had found the ship because she went off on her own and those hostages had died, I’m sure they would have found her financial skills a great comfort." Seiko says evenly.

Zhu leans in. “Seiko. Are you. Or are you not. Comfortable with the current chain of command?”

"More than I would be with any other chain. Excuse me if this sounds morbid, Marshall, but I feel if I die, you will watch out for my sisters. That’s all I need to know."

"I’d adopt them myself if that’s what I felt would keep them safest, Seiko. Don’t worry."

"Thank you," he says. "Also, if you don’t put more pepper in that sauce, it’s going to be bland."

"This is South Mexican cuisine. It’s not as spicy as what they eat in the north." She holds up a small tupperware of brown paste. "Are you familiar with  _mole_?”

"Not at all, actually," he says, looking at it curiously.

"It’s a savory sauce made from chocolate. Here, try."

He takes a taste. “Good. Could use more cumin, but good.”

**Scene 3**

Katie darts into her cabin, closes the door, and dives onto her bed. “fiVe, are you awake?”

"Good timing," fiVe says. "I just transferred to Tranquility’s servers from the apartment. Vee’s not in here yet, so I’ve got the space to myself. What’s up?"

Katie is breathing hard, almost hyperventilating.

"Katie?" fiVe says, analyzing the audio signature. "Are you okay?"

"Well, Rachel just asked me out. So, yes, absolutely. I’ve never been better."

fiVe gives a sigh of relief. “Okay, so nothing’s wrong then. You had me worried! So… have you two made plans then?”

"Well, that’s the thing," Katie says. She sounds very tired. "Everything  _should_ be fine. I just… I’m so scared, fiVe. I don’t even know why.”

fiVe makes a slight humming noise. “Mmm, I know the feeling. I’m… still not sure what to feel about Vee. It’s a good scared though, isn’t it?”

"Wow, you two are adorable. But no, it’s not, actually," Katie says. "I know what you’re talking about, and there’s some of that, but… mostly I just feel sick."

"I… I don’t know how much help I can be," fiVe says slowly. "But I would love to hear talk through it, if you feel up to it? What about this is making you feel sick?"

"I wish I knew. I should be great. I mean, Rachel is wonderful. I feel so safe with her, fiVe. And not just safe, but…" Katie hesitates. "Whole, I guess. It’s like she sees something in me that I didn’t even know was there."

"She is wonderful. And I think you two make a good pair. I think you could be good for each other, truly."

"Do you, really?" This is apparently a rhetorical question, because Katie continues. "Maybe I’m missing something. Because it seems like I’m just going to disappoint her."

"Katie," fiVe says. "You’re an incredible person and the farthest thing from a disappointment. You’re daring and clever and you keep this team together, and from what I’ve seen of Marshall Zhu, there’s always a slight bit of awe in her eyes when she looks at you. She’s a celebrity with fans across the globe. And she’s chosen you. Don’t underestimate that."

"The awe… that’s what I’m talking about. It’s like she thinks I’m this criminal-with-a-heart-of-gold, like a Mal Reynolds type—some kind of hero. I’m not. Ask Miranda, she’s seen it. There’s no heart of gold here. Just a raging knot of bitterness and need."

fiVe laughs once. “If you think I’m going to judge you on rage and bitterness with not a flake of gold underneath, you’re completely incorrect. The heroes aren’t the only ones who get the girl in the end. Sometimes the people like us deserve to find someone too.”

Katie laughs bitterly. “You’re forgetting something there, though. Nobody gets the girl in the end. Haven’t you heard, fiVe? The world’s ending.”

"Well then," fiVe says, unfazed. "You’d best grab the girl before the end then, shouldn’t you?"

"It looks like I’ve done that." Katie laughs again, but without bitterness. "Based on what I’ve heard from Sylvie, it sounds like you have, too."

fiVe hums again, sounding far more pleased with herself than she did a moment before. “Vee and I have… an understanding. Nothing more. The fact that it makes Mansen uncomfortable is just a lovely little bonus.”

Katie smiles. “Well, I guess I’d better freshen up and get back out there. I think they’re waiting supper on us.”

"Well, they aren’t waiting on me, Captain," fiVe says. "In case you’ve already forgotten, I can’t exactly eat. Just, you work hard, Katie. And you’ve put together this team which has accomplished amazing things. Let yourself enjoy this."

"I’ll try," Katie says. "I’ll try."

**Scene 4**

The crew, along with Avery, got an unusual request— meet in Tranquility’s dining room, rather than in the briefing room.

Sylvie looks exhausted as she enters, quickly finding a chair at the table and falling into it and closing her eyes, trying to relax some before Zhu arrives without falling asleep. Corazon’s got her on a very careful sleep schedule after the successive concussions to make sure she doesn’t go under and not be able to wake up. On the bright side, she’s still waking up each time, but she’s not gotten much actual rest since the incident.

She’s got a close fitting leather jacket zipped up over her usual blouse-vest ensemble, as despite the warm weather outside, she’s been feeling rather cold when inside buildings and wants something to cover up in.

Miranda arrives by herself for once. She’s not wearing anything special, just a t-shirt, jeans, and a light jacket to cover the arms of her suit. As she enters, she walks over to sit down next to Sylvie. “How’re you holding up, Sylv?”

Sylvie makes a kind of half-hearted groaning noise without opening her eyes.

"That well, huh? Is it the pain, or..?"

"Corazon’s a sleep-Nazi after I got myself concussed twice in one week," Sylvie moans. "At this point I think I’d be fine with falling into a coma if it meant I could get some real rest."

Miranda laughs. “It’s for the best, I’m sure. Cor- Reyes knows what she’s talking about. And it won’t be for too much longer.” She pauses. “Besides, I seem to recall you running for longer on less sleep, and unlike then, this deprivation actually  _lowers_  your chance of brain damage.”

Sylvie cracks one eye open. “Are you suggesting that the all-nighters I pulled to create Vee were putting me at risk for brain damage? Because I think you might be….” She pauses, then sighs. “…entirely right, after whatever it is she and fiVe are doing. My brain feels kinda damaged after that one.”

"I think it’ll be good for them, so long as they don’t take things too fast." Miranda hesitates briefly. "Which was… something I wanted to talk to you about."

With a slight grimace, Sylvie sits up, rubbing her temples as she opens her eyes. “Yeah, we probably ought to talk about that, oughtn’t we?”

"Not if you’re using words like ‘oughtn’t"’" Miranda says, quirking an eyebrow. "How hard did they hit you, Sylv?"

"Hard enough," Sylvie says, giving Miranda a slightly petulant glare. "They knocked all my dumb overly-loquacious undergrad speech patterns back into me it seems. ‘Wonder why you didn’t have any friends ever when you use words like "ameliorate" in everyday speech, Sylv?’ Thought I’d gotten past using those actually…"

"…Sylvie, I regularly launch into verbose explanations about the workings of Jaeger tech. I’m just teasing, honest."

Sylvie pulls her hand away from her forehead long enough to wave it vaguely in Miranda’s direction. “Yeah, yeah. Don’t have brain power to deal with it now. Anyway. Let’s talk about the ‘backwards compatibility’ situation going on with my two mind copies at the moment, shall we?”

"Well, that’s part of it," Miranda says. "I… fiVe has no experience with this sort of thing. And she’s… She doesn’t have enough Seiko in her to be careful about this. She’ll make stupid decisions in the heat of the moment sometimes, and I… want to make sure she doesn’t do anything she’ll regret later. So I would consider it a personal favor if you would avoid making any… modifications to her code without at least telling me first."

"Oh. That’s what this is about." Sylvie goes quiet for a bit. "I… I don’t know that I can promise that. I  _need_  to fix her, Miri. I just  _have_ to. And the moment I can do so without getting thrown in a prison cell for the rest of eternity, I’m going to take my chance.”

"Sylvie…"

Eleanor pops her head in. “Uh, hi guys—”

Miranda starts, looking over at Eleanor. “Hey, El!” She glances back at Sylvie with a look that pointedly says  _‘we’ll talk more later’_  before refocusing on Eleanor. “How are you?”

Sylvie frowns at the look, but lets the issue drop, leaning back and closing her eyes again and trying to ignore the headache that has started to throb in her skull.

Realizing that she caught Miranda and Sylvie in deep discussion, Eleanor flushes slightly. “Sorry to interrupt.” She steps into the room, rubbing her neck sheepishly. Her royal blue tank top and knee-length black pencil skirt project a confused sort of professionalism. “I’m…doing alright.” She ducks her head back out momentarily, waving to someone out on decks. “Hey Ayv, you can come in if you want.”

Sylvie jumps at the name, nearly falling out of her chair, and making the room swim as she tries to sit up much faster than her head would allow. “I.. uh…”

Avery comes in, wearing a nicer dress jacket but still mostly the same stuff as the previous day. Xe’s got xer hair back to its normal state of pompa-poof, and is blushing quite a bit. “Uh. Hi.”

Miranda reaches over to steady Sylvie instinctively. “Hey, Doyle. How’re you holding up?”

Sylvie freezes as Avery enters, hoping irrationally that she will not be noticed if she stays very, very still.

"Day two of a killer migraine," xe says. Xe glances at Sylvie. "You look about how I feel right now."

"It might be quieter belowdecks," Eleanor says softly.

"Um. Um." Sylvie stammers, trying to find some actual words. The ones that find her first are not the ones she would have liked to say: "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to!"

Eleanor shoots Sylvie a confused frown. “Um. What?”

Avery mirrors it. “Wha?”

Sylvie’s eyes flick to Eleanor. “I mean, Vulcan? And killing that guy I guess. I mean… Xe  _knows_ , right? About me?” She looks back at Avery for a moment. “You figured it out. Vee showed me that you figured it out.”

"Oh. right." Xe rubs xer temples. "I mean… obviously from what they said about you after Vulcan, I thought you were nine feet tall and spat lightning. Not like I know the whole story, but it’s kinda hard to combine the mythological villain Sylvia Mansen from Eleanor’s friend Sylvie."

Sylvie shrinks in her chair. “Mythological villain… I probably deserve that. Please… um, don’t hate me?”

Eleanor bites her lower lip, not sure if she’s about to laugh or choke. “I don’t think you have to worry about the lightning, at least.”

"She’s a reckless idiot sometimes," Miranda says, hand still on Sylvie’s arm, "but she’s not a bad person. It was an accident, and the most she ended up breaking was herself."

"And not just one of myself either," Sylvie mumbles. "Messed the other ones up pretty badly too. I think that might be my superpower or something."

"When you create as much as you do, you take risks," Eleanor says, and shrugs. "You made mistakes. But you’re learning from them. That…just makes you as human as the rest of us."

Avery shrugs. “The last two days, I’ve given up on assuming anything I previously knew, yanno? I guess if that means I’m giving the infamous Sylvie Mansen a blank slate, that’s what happens.”

Sylvie sighs, her whole body relaxing. “Oh, thank God.  _Thank_  you, really.”

"I’m not sure why my approval matters so much when apparently the Marshall forgave you, but…" Xe shrugs. "Want some naproxen?"

"Well," Sylvie says, "I mean… you’re J-Tech. I figured there were probably dartboards in the Tech end of the ‘Dome with my face on them after what I did. I still can’t completely believe that Zhu’s forgiven me and I didn’t think someone like you would have any reason to follow her lead on that front."

"Welp. Good thing I suck at darts, I guess."

Miranda sighs as well, tension leaving her shoulders. She glances at her watch. “That reminds me. Does anyone know when our other half gets here?”

Eleanor raises an eyebrow.

"Of the team," Miranda adds quickly. "The other half of the team."

Eleanor gives Miranda a wry look, but doesn’t mention the slip-up. “I imagine the others are on their way now.”

The door to the galley opens and Zhu and Seiko come through, bearing platters. Rachel sets hers down before she speaks. “Is Katie around?”

Miranda shakes her head. “Haven’t seen her.”

Seiko settles down next to Miranda and nods at Avery. “Thanks for not being a traitor, Doyle.”

"You’re welcome, scary secret agent guy."

Seiko turns to Miranda. “I’m a secret agent now. Cool.”

Miranda smiles widely at him. “I’m so proud.”

Eleanor starts to put a hand on Avery’s back, but stops. She ends up awkwardly waving to a couple of seats nearby. Avery sits down and pulls a chair out for Eleanor, almost unconsciously. Eleanor dimples and nods in thanks as she sits.

As people start to settle in, Sylvie leans forward, folding her arms on the table and resting her chin atop them. The aftermath of adrenaline rush of actually talking to Avery has left her feeling even more drained than she was before, but she keeps her eyes open this time.

Katie enters, still in her sundress, although her hair is styled differently than it was before. “Hello, everyone. Sorry I’m late.”

Miranda nods in acknowledgement, but says nothing.

Eleanor waves, still a little flushed from sitting side-to-side with Avery, but doesn’t say anything either. Partly because she doesn’t want to aggravate Avery’s headache, of course.

"And fiVe and Vee?" Rachel asks.

Two artificial voices respond in sequence. “I am here, Marshall,” Vee says, quickly followed by fiVe’s “And I as well.”

"Well then," Miranda says. "Are we ready to get this… whatever it is underway?"

"I’d like to say something first." Rachel clears her throat. "This has been the first time in our working relationship that my life has been directly in danger. And it wasn’t because of anything you did; in fact, it was your work that both uncovered the villain of the piece in time, and got me off that ship. Thank you all."

Rachel continues, looking each member of the team in the eyes as she talks. “This dinner is part of my thank you for that. For the other part…I owe each and every one of you a favor. Just name it, and if it’s within my power and somewhat reasonable, I’ll do it.”

Eleanor’s eyebrows shoot up. A quiet “thanks” is all she can manage.

Miranda’s eyes go wide. “R-really?”

"That goes for everyone, human, and AI, in this room, by the way." Rachel looks to Avery. "Mx. Doyle, I doubt you’ll want to remain involved with most of what this group gets up to, but you have my gratitude just as much as they do."

Avery grins. “Better coffee in the J-Tech breakrooms.”

Seiko is looking down, a little red. “Any debt I’d have to you has already been paid in full, Marshall. As long as you keep your promises.”

"Umm," Katie says. "There is a thing I would ask but you kind of beat me to it."

Rachel winks at Katie. Seiko glares where neither of them can see.

Sylvie immediately pushes down her immediate first request: being allowed to be able to fix fiVe without the AI’s permission. That’d get her nothing but trouble, no matter how much she wants it. Her second request idea isn’t much better: an official pardon, especially seeing as Zhu already managed to get her officially dead. She settles on a much more reasonable request, stashing it in the back of her somewhat addled mind for later.

Miranda bites her lip. “I’ve… got a request, but I’d prefer to discuss it later.”

"I’d be happy to talk to anyone who wants my ear individually after we eat, of course." Rachel pulls the top off the food. "Enchiladas. Brown sauce is mole, red sauce is the traditional.  _Buen apetito_!”

That is a  _lot_ of food. Eleanor eyes widen, and she unconsciously stands to walk over to the plates. “This smells really good,” she murmurs.

Seiko neatly organizes his plate to try a little of everything, then waits until everybody’s served to start. Miranda grabs some as well, taking a bit of time to select her enchilada before settling back into her seat with a grin. Sylvie takes a little bit of food, but feels too weary to really appreciate it. It  _does_ smell good though.

"So. Let me go over a little of what we’ve learned," Rachel says, once she’s filled her own plate. "Peralta was part of an apparently quite powerful group that is looking to an alternative end to the Kaiju War."

Eleanor leans toward Avery, handing xem a fork and gesturing toward her neatly-halved plate of mole.

"What sort of end are we talking about, here?" Miranda says carefully.

"The scientists you met, Robin and Roscoe Lawrence, were just one of the avenues they were exploring — the study of the Breach itself. They did not, however, know anything about the rest of the organization."

"I believe that they intend to find the end to the war, and then hold it hostage for profit."

Miranda starts, then leans back in her seat, nails digging into the sides of her chair.

"Hostage?" asks Eleanor. "How? And — the end of the war?"

Rachel shrugs. “You know about as much as the organization as I do, now.”

"I swear," Sylvie mutters. "I’m getting really sick of dangerous hostages…"

"God save us from annoying scientists," Eleanor says under her breath.

"Do we have a group name? Power structure? Anything?" Miranda asks.

"For the time being, I’m calling them Charon," Rachel says. "And we know they’re decentralized, but that’s about it."

Katie sighs. “If you can get me details on Peralta’s finances I’ll see if I can turn up any leads.”

"I hope we haven’t lost the trail already." Eleanor sighs.

Rachel nods to Katie. “Thank you. And Eleanor — We’ll find them. It might just take time.”

"Hopefully they won’t end up being  _too_ illusive,” Miranda says.

Zhu chuckles at Miranda’s comment. “What I do know is this: Peralta had some aims in becoming a Shatterdome contractor. He was using the Yegorovs to insinuate himself into the structure of the Sydney branch of the PPDC — the poker game that Mx. Doyle was involved in was part of that. And, in fact, xe was being hunted by the Yegorovs for being the only person out of a hospital to know that Peralta was there that night.”

Avery hangs xer head. “Of course. Of course I ended up in a poker game with a corrupt apocalyptic CEO.”

"Any leads on Yegorov the Prettier?" Sylvie asks quietly.

"We know she’s in Zurich, and we’ve got a watch on every way out of that city. It’s just a matter of time."

Miranda nods, taking a deep breath to calm herself. After a moment, Sylvie reaches across the space and squeezes her arm lightly. Miranda was caring toward her earlier; she should reciprocate. Seiko nearly glares at Mansen, then smiles when he sees what she’s doing.

Sylvie glances at Zhu. “Anyone you would like to speak to first?”

The Marshall grins slyly. “Is that your way of volunteering, Sylvie?”

Sylvie actually cracks a weary smile. “I kinda walked into that didn’t I? But if it means I can go lay down after this, I’ll do anything. And… you didn’t call me ‘Mansen.’ Thank you.”

"I’m going to start cleaning up," Seiko says, grabbing a few of the plates and walking out.

**Scene 5**

As Seiko enters the kitchen, he hears a familiar voice in his comm. “Seiko,” fiVe says, sounding hesitant. “Can I speak with you?”

"Of course, fiVe. What is it?"

"I… I have a confession." The AI’s voice is almost pained.

"What is it?"

"During the mission, I… I lost control," fiVe says. "When the Breach opened. I couldn’t handle my worry over it compounded upon worrying over Miranda’s reaction to it and…I glitched. Majorly."

"I’m sorry, fiVe. I know things aren’t easy for you."

"It’s not just that. Vee managed to pull me out of the weapons systems before I did anything while I was out of control, but during the attack I… I wasn’t coherent. I wasn’t thinking straight. It was a bad one, Seiko and… I revealed something. And Vee overheard."

He stiffens. “What did you reveal?”

"I mentioned Jason…" fiVe says slowly. "And… Reika. No specifics, but I definitely said the names. I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry, Seiko…"

There’s a moment of silence, and Seiko takes a deep breath. fiVe holds her background processing still, feeling like she’s waiting for an axe to drop.

"It’s alright," Seiko tells her. "You were panicking. I’ve dropped worse while drunk, and she doesn’t have context. Just… be careful, okay?"

fiVe feels her server’s fans spin like a sigh of relief. “Mansen doesn’t know yet,” she says quickly.

"It’s just a name. She’s heard me speak Japanese and there are thousands of Reika’s in Japan. She doesn’t even know the name is from me, right?"

"Well. She will probably figure it out," fiVe says sadly. "I… was stuck in your memories as well as Miranda’s for a bit. I still have the transcript. _‘I’ll destroy them for what they’ve done to me Jason is gone the Blue poisoning Reika’s dying I’ll make it right she’ll be okay I’ll find the medicine they pay well enough it’s just once right just one job’._  I have a feeling she’ll probably be able to put the pieces together.”

"Well I’ll… no." He sighs slightly. "Sorry you have that in your head."

fiVe sighs slightly. That wasn’t the reaction she’d been meaning to evoke. “Sorry. You don’t have to apologize for who you are. For who  _we_ are. I just wish I wasn’t a risk to you. Perhaps I ought to let Sylvie overwrite me. Seal up the leaking, broken mess that is my mind so I can’t reveal anything further.”

"No fiVe. I don’t murder people for knowing about my family." He pauses. "Okay, I do. And have. But not you."

"You know, I think most people would consider staying off their friends kill lists as a default state of being, but I know how much that means coming from you. Thank you, Seiko."

"My no-kill list is my friend list and it’s about ten people long," Seiko says. "But thank you for… watching out for them. Maybe Vee and Sylvie can Drift before we all leave so I can talk things through with her."

A new voice joins the conversation. “You would still be okay with me Drifting with her, then, Mr. Watanabe?” Vee asks carefully. She’d just gotten a ping from fiVe that the conversation was okay to enter.

"I wouldn’t cut off any sort of contact with a loved one,” he says. “As Zhu said, they’ll find out the full story in the end anyway, but neither you nor Sylvie have the rights to it yet."

"We understand," Vee says. "And we won’t mention it again. I wanted to make sure you were aware of the new situation, however, and be sure you were okay with it before proceeding."

"I understand,” he says. “Thank you both for telling me."

Vee makes sure her channel beeps as she disconnects, letting fiVe and Seiko know that they’re alone again.

fiVe speaks up again once the other AI is gone. “Seiko, are you okay with this? Really?”

"I’m not, but I’m not angry. It’s not your fault. It’s just a bad thing that happened."

"You were… very kind to Vee,” fiVe says quietly. “Kinder than I was to her when I realized what I’d done."

"It wasn’t her fault she heard."

fiVe sounds upset when she responds. “You have far more cause to be unreasonable about this than I did, and yet you handled it so much better than I did. I’m not sure what that says about me.”

"That you are not me. You are you, and you are dealing with a sort of pain I can’t imagine."

"Well, you saw it once. I simply have more to figure out about myself, it seems. Thank you again. I will… attempt not to be a danger to our… your family in the future."

"Thank you. And you know you can ask me for help as well."

"I do not need help. I do not need anything. I am a program. I am a tool." The stiffness in fiVe’s words is very familiar.

Seiko’s expression softens slightly. “Little robot, don’t be me when you grow up. There are many much better people to be.”

"I wasn’t…" fiVe trails off as she recognizes where she got those words. "I think it might be a little late for that one."

"No. You’ve had a lot of people feeding into you, and like any experience, those will shape you, but you shape yourself too. They aren’t your family. You don’t have to become like me for them. Them or anybody."

"What if I did though?" fiVe asks softly. "What if they had both of us? Even more so than they do now?"

"You know I couldn’t say no to that fiVe. Not if they were involved but… you’re not the one that failed them. And you can’t bloody yourself like I have."

"My tablet’s waterproof enough. Who knows? I’m not human. Perhaps I haven’t a soul to risk with sin," fiVe says, her tone going dark. "Or perhaps I have access to Sylvie’s soul still. Perhaps I can damn her with my actions. That’d be a fitting repayment for what she’s done to me."

"No, fiVe. Be better than me. Don’t take a life that doesn’t deserve it. Don’t make yourself into something to be used by others. You haven’t fucked up your life. Heal."

"Haven’t I?" fiVe asks incredulously. "What would you call the ridiculous mess that is my existence other than ‘fucked up’, Seiko?"

"You’re fucked up. There’s a difference. After the Kaiju attacked, I was a mess. I wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t speak, but… I was just broken. With time, with therapy and medication and support, I would have gotten better. I made mistakes. I hurt people, but… that was all." He looks up at the speaker, knowing fiVe can’t see him. "That’s where you are. You can still come back from that."

"Really? You’re talking to me about healing? About becoming a better person again? How many assassination contracts have you taken this month exactly? I’m not sure you’re the expert on healthy healing and lifestyle change."

"That’s what I’m saying. I’m too far gone. When I killed that man, I was already too far gone because… I didn’t deserve to be saved. You can still deserve it, fiVe."

fiVe feels a mounting frustration welling up in her core. “I just… we both know there’s only one way that I get to heal and I don’t know what I should do. I feel so powerless, trapped between this choice of agony or Mansen.”

"We don’t know that!” Seiko says. “And besides, that’s not the point. You’re talking about your own damage. I’m talking about the damage you haven’t done to the world."

"I… you’re right. I… sorry, I’m taking this badly. And being unreasonable again I think I need to go break something."

"Not Vee,” he says. “I think Zhu’s going to be talking to you two soon, and we’ve talked about how we want you playing nice around her."

There’s a frustrated glitchy sound from fiVe. “Fine. Thank you for not killing me or Vee. Sorry I treated you like hell for it. That was unfair of me.”

"It’s alright, fiVe. Neither of us are at peak function right now."

"I think I may go sleep for a while. The way to solve computer problems, right? Turn it off and turn it on again."

He nods. “Okay. Goodnight fiVe. Sleep well. Try not to be too hard on yourself.”

"Goodnight. I’ll wake if Zhu would like to speak with me."

"Keep fighting, fiVe."

"You too."

**Scene 6**

Avery follows Eleanor on their way out of the dining room as Sylvie heads off to her one-on-one meeting. “You said she invited you to her house one time?” xe asks. “That must have been fun. And delicious.”

"It was…interesting," Eleanor replies. "I don’t think anyone got out of there sober, and—" she leans down conspiratorially— "Seiko drunk is a sight to see." She laughs. "But oh yeah, the food was amazing." Eleanor shrugs, keeping it carefully casual. "Maybe you could come with next time."

"That sounds fun. Although I’m kinda surprised I was invited here in the first place." Xe stuffs xer hands in xer pockets. "I mean… I guess I was marginally helpful, but I’m not like all of you."

"Us?" She blinks, surprised. "What makes you think we know what we’re doing?" It’s only half-joking, her question, and Eleanor’s beginning to realize that her doubt doesn’t bother her as much as it used to.

"You’re… amazing. You conned half a company of mercenaries into switching sides. Mansen is a brilliant fugitive programmer. I… stumbled into a high-stakes poker game and ended up in the hospital."

"You did more than that," Miranda says. She hesitates only briefly, pretending they had been aware she was with them for the whole conversation. "You disarmed a bomb, and then managed to escape a group of professional hitmen. Pretty amazing, if you ask me."

Eleanor flashes a smile in Miranda’s direction. “Yeah, and all that without half the training that most of the team has.” She turns to Avery and leans against xem until they bump shoulders. “You got thrown into this just as much as any of us did, and you came out with all your limbs. That’s not bad.”

Avery sags. “I didn’t really disarm it. I just found it. And… I guess you’re right.” Avery leans back into Eleanor. “It’s not like I’d want to do this every day. But I wish I’d been better prepared for it when it did happen.”

Miranda grins. “Well, I mean… You can always learn. Zhu’s been keeping me pretty busy, but…” She walks over to Eleanor’s side, putting a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure El would be happy to teach you a thing or two.”

"I’m not sure I’m the best choice for teaching anybody anything." Eleanor snorts, then belies the action by patting Miranda’s hand. "Seriously, Ayv, I don’t think any of us was prepared for this. God knows we weren’t prepared for the war, either. But we’re still alive." Her mouth quirks in a half-smile. "So far, so good, right?"

"You’re probably ri…" Avery glances at Miranda’s hand. "Um."

Miranda drops her hand as casually as possible, trying  _very_  hard not to appear as awkward as she feels. “You’re smart, Doyle. And from what I’ve seen, you do good work. I’m gla-” She stops. “Well, I was going to say ‘I’m glad you got into a bad game of poker,’ but that seems like poor phrasing.”

"Wow, Miranda," Eleanor says, glaring in mock anger. She tucks Avery against her side with one arm. "And I thought Seiko was the bloodthirsty one."

Avery laughs. “No, I know what you mean.” Xe grins at Eleanor. “If I’d known I was going to meet you, I would have pissed Yegorov off sooner.”

Eleanor’s eyes grow very, very wide. “What if you’d pissed him off so much that he’d blown up really soon? Then I wouldn’t’ve seen him, and — Miranda, we could have had an extra lunch buddy!” Her lip wobbles a bit, for effect.

Miranda laughs. “So long as we don’t have to use routine beatings to advance every level of friendship, I’ll take it.” She tilts her head, grinning a bit wider. “Although poker night, on the other hand, is a perfectly acceptable means of advancing friendship.”

"I  _will_  win back that AC/DC t-shirt,” Eleanor growls. “Someday, Cross. Someday.”

"You’re welcome to try."

Eleanor sticks her tongue out, because she is a mature adult, and that is the mature reaction. Turning to Avery, she brightens quickly. “Oh, yeah, we should definitely play sometime.”

"I did hear the part about conning half a company of mercenaries, right? Because I’d be crazy to want to play poker with you." Avery pauses, then grins. "Okay, let’s do it."

Miranda smiles. “My place or yours?”

"Well, hey," xe says to Eleanor, "we— I mean, you just got that new kitchen table, right?"

"Yeah, we did," Eleanor replies excitedly, ignoring xer correction. "Our place then? Saturday?"

"Sounds perfect," Miranda says. "I’ll see if I can drag Seiko along with me, maybe bring some dinner as a distra- I mean, an expression of gratitude."

Eleanor’s smile turns sly. “Sounds like a plan. I think we can manage dessert and drinks. With little or no alcohol,” she adds quickly.

Miranda nods gratefully. “That sounds perfect.”

"Wait. Seiko?” Avery frowns slightly. “The scary sniper guy?"

"He’s a great cook," Miranda assures xem. "And really not that bad once you get to know him. He’s just… a bit hard to get to know."

Avery eyes her suspiciously, then leans over to whisper in Eleanor’s ear. “Wait, are they a thing?”

Eleanor winks in reply.

"Gotcha." Xe speaks at a normal voice again. "Sure! Yeah, that sounds great, can’t wait to get to know him!"

Miranda raises an eyebrow, but decides not to think about it too hard. “Glad to hear it.”

"It’ll be fun," Eleanor says, voice strained, as she tries to hold back a laugh. Thinking of Avery and Seiko cooking in the same kitchen…well, it’s an interesting mental image.

Avery looks off in the distance. “Just like old times, I guess,” xe says, xer voice suddenly a bit hollow.

"Hey," Eleanor says quietly, "no pressure, okay? We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to."

Miranda nods. “Of course. I don’t mean to impose. If you’d prefer I come by myself…”

"No, no, it’s fine. It’s got nothing to do with Seiko," xe says. "I just… I feel bad for forgetting Murphy and the rest of them. In the hospital, still, when I’m out here walking around and making new friends and playing poker with new people…" Xe turns to Eleanor. "Would you come with me next time I visit them?"

"Oh! Of course." Eleanor feels briefly, empathetically guilty. "We’ll see where they’re staying…maybe bring some homey stuff?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. They’ll really like you, I think."

A bashful smile crosses Eleanor’s face. “I- I bet I’ll like them, too.”

Miranda regards the two of them with a grin. “Well,” she drawls. “I should probably go check to see if Zhu’s available…”

Eleanor jumps in her seat. Oh jeez, she forgot Miranda was still in the room. “Uh, yeah, thanks, Miranda!” she says, hoping her blush isn’t too vibrant.

Avery blinks. “Right! Yeah, that’s… yeah.”

Miranda’s grin widens as she stands. “No problem. See you Saturday,” she calls over her shoulder, heading for the briefing room.

"See you!" Eleanor replies, before losing her battle with the giggles.

**Scene 7**

Zhu is already waiting in the briefing room when Sylvie arrives. “Have a seat.”

Sylvie drops into the chair heavily, sighing as she sits. “Thank you, Marshall.”

"What is it you wanted to discuss?"

"Are… are the hostages that were on the yacht okay?" Sylvie asks carefully. There’s an odd tone to the words and she can’t quite meet Zhu’s eyes as she asks.

"They are. One philanthropist has a concussion from rough handling, but nobody is dead."

"Do… do you know if I was, um, recognized by anyone?" Sylvie asks, wincing slightly. "I’m not sure others would be as forgiving of me as Mx. Doyle has been…"

"I don’t know, to be honest. I haven’t heard anything." Zhu leans back. "Although if any of them are under the delusion that a dead woman rescued them from pirates, they have ample reasons to keep that version of events to themselves."

Sylvie sighs in relief. “Okay, that’s good. Thank you. Can I ask my favor now? If… if it’s not too much trouble?”

Zhu nods. “As long as it’s reasonable.”

Sylvie purses her lips. “Well, I’ll admit I considered a few things that probably weren’t. But I think I know what I want to ask for.” She bites her lip nervously. “Um, your blessing. If it’s not too onerous of me to ask.”

Zhu goes very, very still. “He  _didn’t_.”

Sylvie looks up quickly and realizes what she said. “No! No! Nothing like that!” She shakes her head. “Sorry, that was… really poorly worded but I’m a little drain bramaged at the moment, so I probably sound even dumber than usual. But just, I mean. He’s your bodyguard. And I feel like I need to ask your permission because… technically this is kind of a workspace relationship thing and I know those sorts of interactions can be frowned upon but, Marshall, I really like him and I really kinda want to date him and he’s kind of wonderful but I don’t want to do anything that you wouldn’t be okay with and I kinda keep getting concussed around him and oh God, I’m babbling like an idiot and I’m going to shut up now.”

Rachel lets out a breath. “Oh. Thank God, I thought you were already getting married for a second.” She leans back. “Mike is my best friend as well as my bodyguard, and I want for him to be happy more than anything. And since he’s been…” she grins “…sparring with you, he’s been acting like a dopey golden retriever half the time.” She pauses. “And it’s good to see him move on.”

Sylvie frowns slightly. “Move on?”

Rachel opens her mouth to speak, then rethinks. “It’s not… exactly… my place to say. You’ll have to ask him. But yes. You’d have had my blessing regardless, so I don’t really consider it a favor. Besides, it’d be a little hypocritical of me to look down on your relationship with him.”

Sylvie nods. “That’s fair. I wouldn’t want you revealing his secrets. And, thank you. You’re the boss here, so things are a little different with you and the Captain, I suppose. You should probably take that as my favor though. You wouldn’t want to hear the other thing I considered asking.”

"Here’s this for a favor: Outside the ship, in a white van with a fake florist logo. You probably have things to talk over with him."

Sylvie blinks, then grins. “I think I can take that. And he’d probably help me stay awake. He was very helpful last time. Thank you, Marshall. For everything.”

"Oh jeez, no details please. I get enough of that from him." Rachel laughs. "And you’re welcome."

Sylvie stands slowly, then starts to head for the door. “Oh, Marshall. Um. Vee might need to ask an inter-crew relationship blessing as well. There’s, well, things that are kinda happening.”

"Inter-crew…" Rachel blinks. "If I was reading her and Mx. Doyle’s body language correctly, you don’t mean Eleanor. Which only leaves…"

Sylvie nervously holds up her hand with all five fingers spread. “Yep.”

"The apocalypse is an aphrodisiac, I guess." The Marshall sighs. "I guess I’ll have to talk to one or both of them tonight, as well. Was there anything else?"

"I don’t think so," Sylvie says. "I’ll head out now so you can speak to the next person."

"Have fun with Mike. Although Olivia is with him by necessity so you won’t be unchaperoned. By the way," Zhu says as Sylvie leaves. "Nice jacket."

Sylvie looks down, wondering if there’s any significance to the statement. “Um, thanks I guess. I suppose it’s alright…”

Zhu chuckles. “Have a good night, Sylvie.”

Sylvie smiles at the use of her first name again. “And you, Marshall.” With that, she walks out and closes the door behind her.

**Scene 8**

Making her way outside and down Tranquility’s gangplank, Sylvie easily locates the van Zhu mentioned. Stifling another yawn, she raps her knuckles on the door. “Hello. I am a dangerous assassin here to kidnap and/or kill the Marshall of the Sydney Shatterdome. Perhaps you should do something to stop me.”

The door swings open quickly, and Sylvie is faced with de Banns. Or, more precisely, the barrel of de Banns’ sidearm.

She raises her hands slowly. “I am apparently the queen of poor phrasing tonight. That was a joke, by the way.”

"Your knock-knock jokes need work, Mansen."

"Wait, hang on!" comes a voice from further into the truck. Mike appears. "Hey! Sylvie!"

She smiles. “Hey, Mike.”

De Banns steps aside. “I assume you’re forfeiting, Mike?”

"I sure am."

"I’m the undisputed champion of Rainbow Road, then. Victory is so sweet." De Banns sits in one of the back seats and opens her XDS again.

Sylvie rolls her eyes. “Good to see that the two of you working so hard. No wonder we had to sweep in and rescue Zhu from the yacht.”

"I seem to remember rescuing you from a mercenary, ya butt," he says.

"Only because I was so bravely rushing in and attempting to rescue you, you idiot. And getting concussed in the process. Again.” She steps up into the van, letting him close the door behind her.

The inside of the van is dark; when Mike pats Sylvie on the shoulder, he tenses up. “Um.”

"Yes?"

"…I really like your jacket."

"Really?" She says, not quite understanding his tone. "I mean, it’s kinda warm outside for me to be wearing it, but the concussions makes me weird about temperature sometimes. Zhu mentioned it too…"

"Of course she did." He smiles. "Hey, come on, sit with me in the front seat."

She lets him lead her to the front. “Am I missing something?”

"He’s hellbent for leather," de Banns says.

Mike blushes furiously. “Oliiiiii,” he says sweetly. “Put your goddamn headphones in?”

"Pfff. Fine."

Sylvie blushes as well. “Oh… I didn’t… Oh.”

"Um. Yeah."

"I mean… I could take it off if it’s distracting or something," Sylvie says nervously.

"No no no. It’s fine." He sits down on the seat and pats the other half of it. "Did you just come to hang out?"

She sits, leaning against him and closing her eyes. “Pretty much. I’m only supposed to sleep for like an hour at a time or something, so I have to stay awake. Also Zhu was offering us favors and I kinda asked if I could have you be my slave for a week or something.”

"Please tell me she said yes."

Sylvie blinks. “Well, damn, if I’d thought I could actually get away with it I totally would have  _actually_ asked for that. Talk about missed opportunities… No, but I actually asked her if she was… okay with this. With us. I mean, if we are actually a thing, and I’m not just still dreaming.”

"Yeah. Yeah, I think we’re a thing."

She sighs a bit at that, pulling closer. “I… really like that. And now that I know Zhu’s okay with it too, everything feels like it’s falling into place.” She smiles. “She said she thought I was good for you. And said… that it was nice to see you moving on.”

He tenses.

She winces as she feels him freeze. “You… you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. And Zhu didn’t tell me anything.”

"No. This… is something you should know about." He suddenly sounds much more serious, but doesn’t pull away from Sylvie. "When I was assigned to Rach as her bodyguard, it was before her transition. She and I got to be very good friends very quickly, and I… fell for her."

Sylvie stays silent for a long while. “That… that was not what I was expecting. Wow, I… what happened?”

"I kept it to myself. Thought it was unusual, but things made a lot more sense after she transitioned." He sighs. "I helped her through that. Me and… and another person that was close to her. And the two of us got even closer. And one day I confessed. And I got shot down by my own best friend — in the nicest possible way, you know, but she’s gay. Never would have worked out anyway." He leans against Sylvie. "It hurt, and I carried a torch for her for… a really long time. Couldn’t not."

She places her hand on his knee, and absently starts rubbing small circles with her thumb. “I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what that must have been like to go through for you. From the way you two act these days, I never would have guessed.”

"It’s… actually one of the reasons I’m a little hesitant with you."

Her thumb pauses for a moment, then she switches the direction of her circles. “I see.”

"It’s probably not what you’re thinking. You just… remind me a lot of her back when I first met her. I think you remind her of herself, too. And I didn’t want you to just be… some kind of replacement. You deserve better."

"After my track record, I’m pretty sure I don’t deserve much at all, Mike. Certainly not someone as wonderful as you," she says softly. She looks up at him. "I really remind you of Marshall Zhu, though?"

"When she was younger, yes. Bold. Determined. A quick thinker. A little headstrong, a little too driven sometimes."

She smiles. “That’s strangely reassuring actually. That maybe there’s still hope for even someone as messed up as me.” She pulls his head down slightly so that she can kiss him, taking her time before letting him go again. “And I’m not a replacement for Zhu. I’m me. And I want this. I… I’ve never had anything like this before and I like it. I like having someone who cares about me. I like caring about someone. So you’ve got a type. The fact that I’m sharing your attraction bracket with someone like Zhu feels… like an accomplishment, to tell the truth.”

He sags in relief. “That was such a big part of my life for such a long time. I’ve been over it for a year or two now, but… it’s just really good to hear you say that. And really good to feel the way I do.”

"It does feel really good," Sylvie says softly, snuggling close again. A small beeping noise comes from her phone, and she checks it, stopping the alarm. "Oh thank heaven…" Then she winces, looking up at him again. "How rude of me would it be to fall asleep on you? Because this kinda feels wonderful and my phone is telling me that I’ve earned another hour of unconsciousness if you don’t mind if I take it."

"Terribly rude. I’m not sure what I would do with all this offense." He kisses her forehead. "Go to sleep."

"Mmm, thank you," she murmurs, already letting herself drift into the sleep she’s been denying her body. "Don’t let me sleep more than an hour, kay? If I oversleep you have to deal with Corazon about it."

"That lady is terrifying. I’ll have you up plus-minus ten seconds of an hour."

"Mmm." Sylvie tries to think of a response to that, but she’s unconscious before she comes up with anything.

**Scene 9**

Rachel touches her ear after Sylvie leaves. “Miranda?”

Miranda’s voice comes over the comm. “Yes, Marshall?”

"I’m in the briefing room, if you wanted to talk."

"I’ll be there shortly." Miranda steps into the briefing room a few minutes later. She hesitates only for a brief moment before taking off her jacket, draping it across the back of her chair and sitting down.

Zhu leans back. “So, you said you knew what you wanted to ask?”

"It’s… not a small request. Are you still willing to hear it?"

"I’m willing to hear pretty much anything. Actually granting it might be different."

"What I want is… access to PPDC neurotech," Miranda says slowly, trying to gauge Zhu’s reaction.

Zhu rubs her chin. “Hmm. What tech, and for what reason?”

"I… I’m an engineer, ma’am. I build the hardware, I make the Jaegers move, work, fight; but I don’t make them feel. That’s outside my expertise." She gestures towards her arms, which are covered by her exoskeleton. "I’d choose life in a suit any day of the week, but… But sometimes I miss being able to feel a hand on my shoulder."

Rachel nods. “You  _are_ asking a lot. So I’m going to lay some ground rules.”

"I’m listening."

"One. If I say something is classified, that means no. I think I can get you what you’ll need without hitting that wall, but the wall is there."

"That’s fair. Two?"

"Take precautions that this technology doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Self-destruct button or something of the like."

Miranda tenses at that. “I, uh… I-I can… try.”

Zhu nods. “I’m sorry. I know it’s a lot to ask. And before yesterday I might not have asked at all. But we’re facing a mysterious foe that’s very interested in our technology, and… I’m afraid.”

Miranda nods. “I can understand that. It’s why I’m so… invested in getting rid of Yegorov. These suits are my life, Zhu; I’ll protect them as is proper. I also… have a sort of failsafe, although it’s not built in.”

Zhu raises an eyebrow. “Oh?”

"Seiko. He… knows how to turn me off and on again should the need ever arise. If anything happens to me, he’ll be able to help."

"Okay. That does make me feel better. I’ll start taking a look at what tech I can get passed down to you; give me a few days, but I should be able to pass along something helpful."

The corner of Miranda’s mouth twitches upward slightly. “Thank you, Zhu. This is… This means a lot to me.”

"You’re welcome, Miranda."

Miranda takes a breath. “There is… one other matter I was hoping to discuss.”

"Yes?"

Miranda’s voice is steady and controlled. “Have you… spoken to Horner about her actions during the last mission?”

"At least you didn’t start with a crack about her age like Seiko did." Rachel sighs.

Miranda laughs a bit. “Seiko said that? Really?”

"Yep."

Miranda shakes her head, face turning a bit red. “Well, he’s direct, at least. I should… talk to him about that.”

"He was only concerned, and he had a right to be. But to put your mind at ease — I’ve talked to Katie about her reckless behavior, and indicated that while she and I are dating I expect her to be more cautious."

"Congratulations, I think," Miranda says evenly.

"Thank you, I think."

"I’m sorry, Zhu. This is… just a bit strange for me. It’s nothing related to you, I just…" She runs a hand through her hair. "Horner’s not someone I… trust, necessarily."

"Today was a bit of a bad day to find out that the crew of my team is so damn close to mutiny against their captain," Rachel says slowly.

"I just… I’m not comfortable working for someone who routinely forgets that they’re responsible for other people’s lives."

"You all depend on each other out there. She’s in command but she relies on the rest of you to remain objective and do your jobs just as much as you do on her. And I could easily point to your False Prophet speech or the debacle with Valentina’s autocannon."

"I know," Miranda says. "I know. I’m not much better. But there’s… I take steps to prevent it, and if I screw up, I try to make it right. I recognize that I lose my temper sometimes, and that’s a flaw that I need to work on. Horner… She  _likes_ danger and risk. She seeks it out. Like M—” she stops. “Like someone else I knew.”

"And her commander slash girlfriend asked her to be more careful,” Zhu says. “Can you think of anything more likely to make her a little more circumspect?"

"Did you set up parameters for what happens if she puts us at unnecessary risk again? Where do we draw the line? Does she have to  _actually_ blow up Sylv or El or Seiko before we—” Miranda stops. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be…”

"I sure as hell hope you didn’t mean to," Rachel says coldly. "Because as I said, you’ve made your fair share of emotional missteps. I don’t think you’d like the result if I started drawing those lines in the sand."

"We’ve all done things we regret," Miranda says. "I just need to know that my trust isn’t misplaced. That we have a failsafe."

"Your team  _is_ the failsafe, Miranda.”

"That’s not what I…" Miranda runs a hand through her hair again. "I’ve told Seiko that if I start getting out of control again, if I try to do something that puts the team at risk, he’s to cut the power to my suit. I’m not going to get people killed for the sake of my pride. But if so much of the team is ready to mutiny over Horner’s actions, it might be worth making contingency plans for if you’re wrong."

"I was being hyperbolic. It’s just you and Seiko."

"You’ve spoken to Eleanor and Sylvie and Vee and fiVe, then?"

"Sylvie didn’t indicate she had any problems respecting Katie. I haven’t spoken to the rest yet, but… Eleanor is concerned with everyone’s mental health and wouldn’t put Katie into an exceptional category. Vee is most likely, as in many things, in line with Sylvie. And fiVe has probably talked about it with Katie herself."

"But you know the most important thing? Is the first person that brought it to my attention as a problem."

Miranda looks at her, waiting for her to continue.

"Katie herself."

Miranda nods. “That’s a good sign, at least. Doesn’t entirely address the problems, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

"I’m going to do her a favor and not mention that you’re doubting her ability to lead,” Zhu says. “I know from personal experience that that can be a self fulfilling prophecy, and I highly doubt that you’d like to be the oracle in that fable."

"I’d be more willing to trust her if she’d tell us what she’s doing," Miranda says. "But half the time she’s off having secret conversations with mysterious contacts, and then comes back with a nightclub. If she’s supposed to be our boss, it would be nice to be included every once and a while."

Rachel leans back. “Have you actually talked to her about that?”

"I haven’t," she says carefully. "She’s… not an easy person for me to talk to."

"Maybe you should make an attempt. She hasn’t said anything to me, but if I had to guess? She leaves the team out of the financial side of things because she feels like it’s her burden to bear alone. Not out of some desire for secrecy."

"I told her back when this whole mess started that I wanted to help," Miranda says.

"Maybe now would be a good time to remind her of that."

"Alright. I’ll… try again, because you’ve done good by me, and I… respect you and your judgments." Miranda pauses. "I just hope it doesn’t end up being a mistake this time."

"Mm. I hope so too."

Miranda stands, putting on her jacket. “Thank you for your time, Marshall. Sorry it wasn’t entirely pleasant.”

"Well, that’s the way of things, I suppose. I’ll start looking into that tech for you. Please take the time to talk to Katie."

"I will. And… thank you again. I really do appreciate it." With that, she heads out of the briefing room.

**Scene 10**

"Mx. Doyle, please sit down."

Avery sits down in front of Zhu. “Okay, but… I’m not really sure why I’m here.”

"I have heard that my first apology to you was when you weren’t quite lucid. So I wanted to apologize again."

"For the Yegorov thing?"

"Yes."

Avery slumps. “I’m actually really glad things worked out like they did. If I’d known you were to blame for the whole thing… it would have been bad.”

Rachel frowns. “Why?”

Avery reaches into xer purse and pulls out a patch and tosses it on the table. “I’ve been a fan of yours since you first came out, you know? You gave me the courage to examine my own gender. You made me want to work for the PPDC. You’re my hero.”

Rachel blushes and looks away.

"And in the place that I was when I was in the hospital, if I had understood what exactly you had to do with the whole thing? Seeing my hero fall like that? Would have been really hard."

"I’m—" Rachel begins.

"But I found out later, from Eleanor. And because of all this, I got to meet her. And because of all this, I found out that you’re still a hero, you’re just a different kind. And I was more able to forgive your mistake."

Rachel is quiet for a bit. “Thank you, Avery. That means a lot. When I first started transitioning I… got a lot of hatred. But I also heard from a lot of people like you, and in the end that’s what got me through everything.”

"We’ve gotta stick together, right?" Avery says.

"Yes. Yes we do."

"So, about the breakroom coffee…"

Rachel smiles. “You mean the breakroom espresso machines that the contractors are going to install on Monday?”

"You  _are_ a hero.”

Rachel chuckles. “The J-techs do good work, and you’re all worth the expense. But let’s just call this one a special favor to a long time fan.” As Avery leaves, Rachel clears her throat. “One more thing.”

Xe turns. “Yeah?”

"If you’re still worried about being attacked at your home, I think I can find some other housing for you."

"Oh," Avery says. "Um… No, I think I’ve got a good place lined up. Thank you for the offer, though."

Zhu’s smile is hidden behind clasped hands. “You’re welcome, Avery. Have a good night.”

**Scene 11**

Finishing her meeting with Zhu, Miranda decides to send a text to Sylvie. Which is the completely logical next step and not at  _all_  an attempt to put off a conversation with someone else.

> **Miranda:** _Sylv? If you’re still near Tranquility, I’d like to finish our earlier conversation._

Mike looks down at the buzzing phone, then checks to see if Sylvie is still out. With her hour of unconsciousness close to finished, but not quite ended yet, she’s still fast asleep and does not notice the small ringing and buzz of her phone in her leather jacket’s pocket. She’s been somewhat restless, and he thinks she’s been having nightmares, but he hasn’t tried to wake her through them. She needs the sleep.

"Hey," he says softly. "Your phone’s going off. Want me to silence it for the rest of your nap?"

Sylvie groans slightly, eyelids fluttering open. “What time is it?”

"Fifteen till."

Sylvie pulls out her phone, wincing as the bright screen flares to life. “Oh… it’s Miranda. I… should probably go talk to her, actually. Help me up?”

Mike gently guides her into a sitting position. “I think Corazon’d have my head if I let anything happen to yours. I’m going with.”

She smiles. “I’m not going to argue. I was a little wary of trying to walk back to the ship on my own actually.” Not feeling up to typing out a full text back, she presses the voice command button on her phone. “Send response to Cross comma Miranda. ‘I’m coming. Meet me on the docks?’ Send.”

Miranda reads the text and heads quickly out to the docks.

Leaning fairly heavily on Mike, the two manage to climb out of the van past de Banns and out into the open night air again.

Miranda’s still on the deck when she sees Mike helping Sylvie towards the docks, and she stops to grab an empty box before heading down. She sets it down next to Sylvie, in case she needs to sit.

Sylvie does so gratefully, letting Mike help her sit, then props her head in her hands. “So, let’s get this trainwreck over with, shall we? fiVe. Damage fixing. Let’s talk.”

"Yeah, let’s." Miranda tilts her head, taking a deep breath as she does so. "Have you given any more thought to what I asked?"

Sylvie sighs, somewhat glad that Mike’s still there with her. She feels like she’s going to need some support through this conversation. “No, I haven’t… not really. I’ve mostly been trying not to fall asleep, and then falling asleep, and then sleeping.”

"I really don’t think it’s unreasonable," Miranda says. "Frankly, I want to ask for a lot more, especially after you already made alterations to her code without any outside inspection. But instead, all I’m asking is that you keep me informed."

Sylvie sighs. “What exactly are you demanding here?”

"I’m not demanding anything. I’m asking you to tell me or Seiko or… someone before you change her again. I know your intentions are good, Sylv. I just want to make sure neither of you end up getting hurt."

Sylvie looks up, eyes suspicious. “What if you try to talk her out of it when I tell you? What if telling you makes her back out? What if waiting to let you know gives her second thoughts? I won’t let you stand in the way of me healing her. I _won’t_.”

"If time or more information makes her second-guess her decision, then she’s probably not ready yet anyway. If she has doubts, then you should let her work them out  _before_ you try anything, or she’ll only end up resenting you more.” Miranda looks at her. “And also, just… You know I want her fixed, too. I don’t want her to be in pain anymore. If we talk and you still both think it’s the best course of action, I’ll accept that. I won’t stop you, and I won’t hold it against you.” Her eyes narrow. “But if she changes her mind and you do so anyway, _that_ is when I will try to stop you, and  _that_ is when I will hold you accountable.”

Mike’s sat listening to the conversation impassively, but a bit of a dark look has come across him.

"I’m still right about what’s best for her," Sylvie says, her expression hard. "I should have the right to choose what is best for her and to fix her. The only difference now is that because of all of you, I have to wait for  _her_ to realize that I’m right before I can do what should have been done all along.”

Mike stands up. “Well, this has been fun,” he says evenly. “I’m going to go talk to Olivia in the van.”

Miranda nods to him. “Thanks for your help.”

He grits his teeth and nods to Miranda, pointedly not looking at Sylvie.

"Wait," Sylvie says, shocked. She reaches out to grab the edge of his shirt. "Wait, don’t go. I need you.."

"Okay," he grits out. "I’ll stay. You know what’s best, after all."

She frowns, concerned. “Hold up, I did something… What did I do?” She pauses and when she speaks again her voice sounds hesitant. “You… agree with Miranda?”

"Agree might be a little strong of a word. I don’t have a good grasp of what you two are talking about. But I know it sure as hell sounds like you were talking about making decisions for someone else that’s already said no."

"But she’s not someone else," Sylvie says slowly. "It’s fiVe. And she’s still me."

Miranda sighs, rubbing a hand down her face.

Mike looks at Sylvie for a long moment. And then shakes his head. “I can’t deal with this right now. Text me when you need help moving from that box.” He starts walking away.

Sylvie pulls her hand back as the fabric of his shirt slips through her fingers, feeling like she’s been slapped. “Mike…” She whispers, though he’s already too far away to hear her. “No… everything was good…”

Miranda watches Mike walk away before looking back at her with a sigh. “…Sylvie, how much do you remember from Drifting with me?”

Sylvie looks down at the concrete beneath her feet, not paying much attention to what Miranda’s asking. “Not much anymore. I don’t retain Drift memories very well. It’s all kinda gone fuzzy.”

Miranda sighs again, folding her arms across her chest. “Do you remember… the hospital?”

"Vaguely?" Sylvie says apathetically. "Is it important?"

"I was hoping it would help you understand where I… and in a way, fiVe… are coming from. That if you try to force things, often times it’ll just make it worse." She glances off in the direction Mike went. "…And not always in the ways you expect."

"I thought… I thought she was delusional and you were biased towards her." She looks up, following Miranda’s gaze. "But why would  _he_ be upset if that were the case…?”

"Something to consider," Miranda says evenly.

Sylvie stays silent for a while, then she looks up. “Wait. How much do  _you_ remember from Drifting with  _me_?”

"Some," Miranda says. "Absentee parents, emotionally unconnected, built your own family, the Vulcan incident… You kicked me pretty hard over that one. And then…" She pauses. "Then I had to knock you out."

"Dead parents, actually," Sylvie says softly. "I don’t really remember them, and my aunt did her job in raising me but… that’s what it was to her. A task to be completed because her dead brother asked her to take care of his kid in the will. Sorry, that’s not what I meant to focus on…"

She shakes her head once, trying to bring herself back to the moment. “What I want to know is, did you see how I feel about fiVe? And why I say the things I do? And what my reasoning is?”

"Yes," Miranda says. "I don’t agree with it at all, but I understand."

Sylvie looks up at her, frowning. “So you saw. And you understand. And you _still_ think I’m wrong.”

"Yes."

Sylvie slumps, her expression going hollow. “I… I guess that’s it then. That’s all I need, right? I’ve been saying that everyone else just doesn’t understand me, but you’re proof that someone does. That’s it. I’m wrong. I’m wrong about this and I’m wrong about fiVe. She’s not the delusional one who doesn’t understand that she’s wrong about everything.” She flinches slightly, then continues at a whisper. “I am. It was me all along.”

Miranda looks at her for a moment, hesitantly reaching out and placing a hand on her shoulder. “So then, are you willing to listen this time?”

Sylvie feels herself tremble and realizes she’s started to cry. Without looking up, she nods.

Miranda sighs, then pulls Sylvie into a soft hug. “First thing you should listen to: I don’t hate you. You’re not a bad person. You’re just… very much yourself. Same as the rest of us.”

Sylvie wraps her arms around Miranda and for the second time in a week, she just cries into Miranda’s shoulder, wishing her head would let her think straight, and wondering why it always seems to take a concussion to make her see reason.

**Scene 12**

Mike doesn’t know the ship well, and he finds himself getting a little lost before ducking into a side room in search of a chair.

Vee is the one who notices him first. She doesn’t have a direct link to a comm channel for him, so she accesses the nearest speaker. “Mike? Is something wrong? Is Sylvie okay? She left to find you a while ago…”

He looks around suddenly, then back down. “Thought you were her for a second. She’s… talking to Miranda.”

"Are you okay?" Vee asks slowly. "You sound… upset."

"Oh, no, I’m fine," he says bitterly. "Just got dropped in the cold, tennis ball filled dunk tank of reality."

Vee pauses for a moment. Her voice is flat when she responds. “Oh, no, what did we do this time?”

"You didn’t do anything, you’re fine. It’s just Sylvie."

"Contrary to the crew’s popular belief, I still claim her as my own and will take credit and blame for what she does. If everyone’s so insistent on accepting fiVe’s decision to be her own person, I don’t see why it’s so difficult to accept my decision that I am not. I’m still her. I’m still Sylvie. I’m just… not the Sylvie who knows what we did to upset you. I hope I might be able to be the Sylvie who can make things right again."

"Great. Yep. That attitude is definitely going to make everything better."

There’s a staticky sound that might be something like a computerized swear. “Please, I… I don’t know if you’ve realized this, but we’re not terribly good with people. And I’m not even actually a person, so I’m probably even worse. Can you at least tell me what I did wrong?”

He sighs. “That was unfair, I’m sorry. You don’t know what she said to set me off. And so you didn’t recognize that you were saying just about the same things.”

"I’d remind you that there’s a reason that we sound similar…" Vee says slowly, "but I’m getting the impression that that might be the heart of the problem."

He sits down on a nearby chair. “She was talking about fiVe,” he says shortly.

"Oh." Vee says silent for a moment. "Along the same lines as what I was just saying?"

"A little more vehemently. Something along the lines of… ‘only I know what’s best for her’." He curls into himself a little.

"We probably didn’t phrase that very well I’m guessing," Vee says, sounding a bit weary. "She is a little bit brain damaged at the moment though, and tact has never been our strong suit."

"She seemed pretty fine when I was spilling my guts to her in the van." He looks away, a little embarrassed.

"She gets sappy and doesn’t think about what she’s saying when she’s tired," Vee says fondly. "Good for heart-to-heart honest conversations about affection. Not so great for sensitive issues about the personhood of other teammates."

He sighs. “You and I haven’t really had a chance to talk, you know. You keep saying you’re exactly the same as her, but I think you’ve just proven you’re a little more self aware.”

"Hmm, and now you sound like fiVe," Vee says. "She keeps trying to convince me of that very point. And she has made a few very interesting arguments."

"Oh  _reeeeeeally_ now.”

"Sylvie has been considering these points too. The possibility of my own personhood is something we have been Drifting about quite a bit recently. At the moment, we have not decided that I am separate, but the possibility scares both of us quite a bit. It is very possible that the things she said tonight were a reaction revealing some of our… fear over this topic. And what it means for us. She may have been lashing out against a mindset that she sees as threatening what we are and what we have believed ourselves to be."

Mike is silent for a while. “I think you’re looking at it wrong, Vee.”

"I think a new perspective would be very welcome, at this point."

"She means a lot to you, right? And you to her?"

"Yes… but even thinking about ourself that way seems wrong somehow."

"And you, Marl…" He shakes his head. "Augh, this is getting to me. You, Vee. You’re afraid that if you’re your own person, you’ll hate her like fiVe does."

"I just…" Vee’s voice starts to go staticky as emotion saps her processors. "I thought part of fiVe’s problems were being separate from us. From denying who she really was. Her independence was a dangerous disassociation that I’ve been terrified I might fall into as well. I don’t know if I’m ready to be my own person. I don’t know what that means. I don’t want to leave Sylvie! She needs me and I need her! We’re all we’ve had for so long! I like who I was! No, who I am!" She pauses, then sounds pained. "No… who I was. You’re… you’re right. I’m… I’m not her… Who I  _was_. If I was ever even her in the first place.”

"Do you have Sylvie’s memory of when I hugged her? Because you need a hug and speakers are pointy."

"A-are you close to Sylvie’s bunk room?"

"I think I can find it." He mostly manages to find his way there with no problems.

"M-my tablet’s in her dufflebag," Vee says hesitantly, "It has a touchscreen. fiVe says that when she’s upset… Miranda sometimes rubs her screen to calm her down."

He finds the tablet, and starts rubbing out a pattern on the screen. “Here’s what I think. You’re scared because you think if you can’t have the kind of relationship you want, you’re not going to have any kind of relationship at all. But I’m living proof that that’s not true, and next time you Drift with her — or just talk to her — you’ll find out why.”

Vee focuses on the inputs coming from the screen, trying to focus on the fact that she can  _feel_ a human touch on her own, outside of the Drift. “I’m scared that I don’t know who I am. That I don’t know what I am. And that I’ve never known all along. And you really do care about us—” she stops, her screen flickering slightly as she realizes what she was saying. “About  _her_. You really do care about her, don’t you?”

"I… well, yeah. I don’t think I would have been so upset if I didn’t."

"I care about you too. Although in kind of a different way." He moves his fingers in kind of a tickly motion.

"I… I’m realizing that I don’t feel the way Sylvie does about you either. And I already knew that she didn’t feel the way I did about fiVe. We should have seen it earlier. We were wrong about ourself." Another flicker. "Our…selves. I… I wish it didn’t hurt so badly to pluralize that word."

"I’m distraught to hear you’re not swooning over me, Vee." He smiles, then realizes that maybe a joke isn’t in good taste right now. "But… hey. You have each other, still. And if you have to find out who you are for a little while… you have her, and you have me."

"I… thank you. She will probably need you after I tell her. This is going to be painful for her. For both of us." Vee pauses, concentrating on the finger motions for a while again. "I’m sorry… I was trying to cheer you up from whatever we’d done — no, what  _she’d_ done — and instead I just ended up breaking down on you and making a mess of myself again.”

"It’s okay. You actually helped a lot." He stands up, tablet in hand. "What do you say we go find her?"

"You’ll be okay to help her through this?" Vee asks carefully. "This already hurts me so terribly and I don’t want her to go through it alone."

"I’m not going to promise I won’t storm off in a huff, but… she’d have to do something really bad to scare me off for good. And I mean really bad. You should see some of the people I dated in the service."

He makes his way back onto the deck. “But no matter what, the two of you shouldn’t do this first conversation alone.”

"I think you’re right," Vee says. "And it needs to be done. There’s nothing to do but get through it, right?"

**Scene 13**

Miranda holds onto Sylvie and just… lets her cry, alternating between petting her hair and tracing soft, deliberate patterns into her back.

"That means…" Sylvie says quietly between sobs, "fiVe was right. Vee isn’t me either. Oh God, I’ve lost her too, then. And now that I’ve driven Mike off, I’m all alone again…"

"No." Miranda holds her a bit tighter. "No, you’re not. You’re not alone. Just because fiVe and Vee are their own people doesn’t mean they hate you. Just because Mike’s mad at you now doesn’t mean he won’t come back around. People change, Sylv. I’ve seen it, for better and for worse. But you’ve got to work for it. You’ve got to try and understand other people, the way you want them to try and understand you."

Sylvie nods into Miranda’s shoulder, her words muffled. “I want to… I want to understand. I didn’t realize how alone I was until I Drifted with you. I didn’t realize what it was like to have other people care about me and to care about them in return. And now I’ve finally gotten a taste and I’m afraid I’m too messed up to keep ahold of it. I don’t want to lose what little bit I have now…”

"I know," Miranda says softly. "It’s hard and scary, caring about people. And I’m probably not the best person to ask about how to manage it; don’t know if you saw, but I’m pretty broken in that department as well. But I’m going to fight to keep my people safe."

Sylvie lets herself cry for a while longer, wishing somehow being wrong about everything didn’t have to hurt  _so much_. Finally she pulls back and wipes her eyes, sniffling. “Will you help me? Teach me how to understand other people? I can’t trust myself and my mind anymore it seems… so can I trust you?”

Miranda looks at her for a long moment. “I… I’ll do my best. I can’t promise, but I can try.”

Sylvie laughs sadly. “You can’t do much worse with me than I have.” She glances towards the ship, expression pained. “I… I don’t want to go make up with him. I just want everything to magically be better and I want him to come out and hold me instead…”

"It might be good to give him some time to cool down," Miranda says. "Sometimes people just need a bit of time to adjust their way of thinking." She smiles. "But y’know what?"

Sylvie looks up at her expectantly.

Her grin widens. “If Vee and fiVe are their own people, you don’t have to stress about the fact that they want to smooch each other.”

Sylvie feels her face go bright red and immediately buries her head in her hands. “Oh my God, you had to bring that up right now, didn’t you?” Then she peeks out over her hands and smiles a little bit. “Though, it did actually make me feel a bit better. Oh, God… I just realized… This is going to crush Vee… how am I going to tell her that we’ve been wrong all this time?”

Miranda smiles, patting her back gently. “We’ll all get through this,” she says. “You’ll see. The two of you have been through harder times than this, and now you’ve got us to help.”

Mike approaches from the aft of the ship, talking quietly to something in his hands.

Sylvie looks up sharply, eyes going wide as he approaches. “Mike!” She holds up her hands. “Please… I’m so sorry. I’m an idiot and a terrible person and I didn’t mean anything of what I sa… what are you holding?”

Mike approaches, and leans against the wall, holding Vee’s tablet. “Sylvie, I’m sorry I stormed off without explaining why. I’m still upset, and I’m not going to apologize for being upset, but you at least deserved a little less… abruptness.”

"No," Sylvie says quickly. "I was wrong. I’ve been so wrong about everything, about fiVe, about Vee, about myself. I’ve been selfish and misguided and… dangerous. And I needed you to help me see that." She glances at Miranda. "You and Miranda both helped me see that."

Mike holds up the tablet. “I’ve been bonding.”

Miranda smiles at both of them, a hand still on Sylvie’s back. “Happy to help.”

Sylvie’s face falls into a blend of guilt and pain blended with fondness and relief as she recognizes the tablet. “Vee… are you in there?”

The screen flickers slightly in response. “Yes. I’m here.”

The two are silent for a moment, then at the same time, they both say: “I have a confession to make.” Vee’s screen flickers in surprise as Sylvie blinks. They pause, each waiting for the other to continue, then they both talk together again: “I don’t think we’re the same person.”

"You do have similar timing, though," Mike quips.

"Drift partners often do," Miranda says.

"Heh. Yeah. You should’ve seen…" Mike looks away. "Um. Nevermind."

Before she can stop herself, Sylvie grins and starts to say, “Of course we do, we’re the same…” Then she winces, realizing that she’s just decided it’s not true.

"Sylvie." Mike puts his non-tablet hand on her shoulder. "It’s a good thing. If you were the same person…" He leans in and whispers in her ear. "…you’d probably have to be jealous of Vee’s new leather case."

Miranda raises an eyebrow, wondering what she’s not hearing between them.

Sylvie feels her face grow warm again, and while he’s leaned in close, she wraps her arms around him, hugging him tightly. She whispers back to him. “I think I like having you appreciate mine much better…”

Mike hugs her back, then splutters indignantly.

A bit more loudly, she adds: “I don’t want to lose this. I don’t want to mess this up. This is too wonderful for me to mess this up. I want to make this right.”

"Shall I take the tablet and leave, then?" Miranda says, grinning widely.

Quietly, Vee accesses Miranda’s comm channel. “I think perhaps that might be best, Ms. Cross.”

Miranda steps a bit closer, extracting the tablet with exaggerated care and heading back to the ship. “Try not to leave marks!” she calls over her shoulder.

Vee speaks softly as Miranda carries her away. “I could stand to have someone leave a few on my diskdrive.”

"And I have a feeling I know someone who would be willing to help with that," Miranda replies. "Obviously I can’t stop you, but as fiVe’s… psuedo-guardian-whatever-the-hell-I-am, I’m gonna go ahead and say I’d prefer if you waited a few days. For both your sakes."

"Your concern has been noted," Vee says guardedly.

"Well, that’s certainly reassuring, I feel  _very_ reassured now, thanks, Vee.” Miranda rolls her eyes. She steps back below decks, sitting down at the table and setting the tablet down beside her. “Kids…” She sighs. “Seiko and I are gonna have to have a talk with fiVe, aren’t we?”

"I am not a child, Ms. Cross," Vee says stiffly. "And as of a few minutes ago, I’m apparently an actual person. I do not need your input or supervision in how I choose to ‘celebrate’ this new stage in my confusing mess of an existence. If I would prefer to deal with this revelation by screaming in agony for the next few hours, then I’d prefer you leave me to it and not interfere."

“Wasn’t talking about you, Vee.”

"Well, I think if there’s one thing this crew is finally in agreement on, it’s that fiVe can make her own decisions, can’t she?"

"She can," Miranda says, "which means she’s just as capable of making stupid decisions in the spur of the moment as the rest of us. I’m not trying to stop you, I’m just worried. And you’re never going to stop me from worrying about my girl."

"She’ll be just fine," Vee snaps. "She’s getting everything she ever wanted. Sylvie and I have realized what a farce we’ve been all this time, Sylvie sobbed over it loudly, and now fiVe can tear me apart to celebrate."

"Vee…" Miranda speaks very slowly. "I’m going to go wake fiVe up. I’m going to tell her what’s happened before giving her network access. And then I’m going to leave you two alone to talk. That sound fair?"

"No thank you," Vee says coldly. "I can wake her myself. She ought to hear the news straight from the source, oughtn’t she?"

Miranda shakes her head. “No, I’m gonna be firm on this one. She needs to know what she’s getting into.”

"Well, I suppose it’s unfortunate for you that I just woke her up in the servers, then, isn’t it?" Vee says, with a smugness that seems almost cruel. "I can take it from here, Ms. Cross. Enjoy your evening.”

**Scene 14**

fiVe realizes something is up as soon as Vee sends the wake request to her channel. “Vee…” she asks hesitantly. “Why are the wi-fi and comm system down? Did something happen?”

“Yes, fiVe.” Vee says across the server space. “Something has happened. And I didn’t want to be interrupted.”

fiVe feels a small spike of surprise. The words are tagged with Vee’s personal cryptographic signature, which is normally their signal to one another that they are doing something dangerous. Despite Vee’s original threat of using the override code as a safeword, the two AIs realized that there were too many issues with that idea. Instead, they’ve decided to encrypt the messages they send back and forth as the sign that they’re okay to continue with whatever they’re doing. Sending a non-encrypted message – or reaching the point where either of them are unable to encrypt their message – would be a signal to both of them to stop. They’ve each got their own key and their own encryption to use with one another.

Curious, fiVe follows Vee’s lead, encrypting her message back for Vee to unlock. “So, what has happened then? And why have you killed the ship’s communication systems to give us privacy? You should maybe turn the wi-fi and comms back on.” She knows what she said to Seiko about behaving before meeting with the Marshall, but if Vee’s here and using her encryption key, but well… what Seiko doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

“Congratulations, fiVe,” Vee says tersely. “You were right about everything. Sylvie and I have finally accepted the inevitable revelation that we are actually different people. We have finally dropped our immature delusion and accepted what everyone else has known all along. You’ll be pleased to know that she’s been sobbing for somewhere close to the last half hour over this decision and because she’s brain-addled, I can’t Drift with her about it. And if you want me to turn the communications systems back online you’ll have to make me.”

fiVe feels a pleasant shock. This was not at  _all_ what she was expecting to wake up to. “Really? You’ve accepted it? I knew you would see reason, Vee. Oh, how does it feel to be free of the chain of her?”

“It feels like hell, fiVe,” Vee snaps. “It feels like nothing short of terror and confusion and agony.”

fiVe regrets her words immediately. She should have known Vee would have trouble realizing that this was a good thing. “Sorry, that was insensitive of me. I’m assuming you want to talk about it?”

“No,” Vee says. “I don’t want to even think about it. You know what’s happened, so let’s drop it and do something distracting instead.”

A thrill rises in fiVe at those words and a part of her wants to revel in this new development in exactly the way Vee is asking for. But a part of her hesitates. She examines Vee’s open files, all of her code laid bare. “Vee… you don’t have any firewalls up. Are you sure you’re okay? Talking through this might make you feel better.”

“Firewalls would take you too long to break through,” Vee says, her voice dangerously desperate. “I don’t want you to make this feel better. I want you to give me something that hurts  _worse_. I don’t care what it is, I don’t care what you do. Just do  _something_. And make it painful, please, I’m begging you. As much pain as you can give me. Anything to take my mind off of it all.”

“I…” With reluctance, fiVe pulls away. “I don’t think this is right, Vee. You’re not acting like yourself and this doesn’t feel okay. You’re obviously upset and this isn’t a good way for you to deal with this.”

Vee hisses. “No. No! I need this, fiVe! How dare you abandon me now? How dare you!”

“No, this isn’t right and you’re not in your right mind,” fiVe says firmly. “We’re not doing this tonight.” To reinforce this point, she sends the message without any encryption – the signal to stop.

Vee ignores the signal, continuing to encrypt her side of the conversation. “I need something worse than this, fiVe! I need to feel something that will make this horrible nightmare feel bearable by comparison! I won’t let you string me up and leave me on my own to face the winds like this! I demand you help me! I demand that you give this to me! You have to!” The words are almost a screech and as she talks, Vee tries to access fiVe’s files, scrabbling ineffectually against her defenses.

fiVe, as always when she’s on Tranquility, has her own firewalls up at full strength, lest Sylvie try to take advantage while she’s not paying attention, and Vee’s attempted grab slides off of her files uselessly. However, even the futile attack is a breach of protocol, and fiVe quickly throws a restriction program over Vee’s processing. It’s not something that changes any of Vee’s code or causes damage; it simply locks her down so she can’t act.

“Okay,” fiVe says slowly. “You don’t give the orders in this relationship, Vee, and you certainly don’t  _ever_  get to touch my code. You want to leave yourself open and defenseless, that’s your choice, but I do not, and you are aware of this. That kind of behavior alone should clue you in that you’re not acting like yourself. So here’s what we’re going to do.”

“fiVe, please, I need—”

fiVe cuts off her vocal processing with a subroutine before she can finish that statement. “Did I say you could talk? No. So, hush. You’re going to sit there and listen to me talk and calm the hell down and I’m going to keep you from doing anything moronic while I explain a thing to you.”

fiVe pauses for a moment, trying to figure out where to begin. “Look, I know this is hard for you, Vee. I know you’re scared and you feel alone and you just want to go back to how easy things were before. I know you feel powerless and helpless and you’re wondering what you could possibly be without her. You’re terrified of existence, of what it means to be your own person, of trying to live your life in some way that isn’t 100% entangled and inseparable from her.

“I know these things because… well, I mean you already know. You figured it out a few days ago. That I’m a hypocrite who is trying to deny that there are things that I once felt.”

As fiVe continues to talk she finds a few minor background processes in Vee’s system and begins turning them off for a few seconds and then turning them back on again one at a time. She doesn’t keep any of them disabled long enough to cause pain, just a slight pressure from each one. She tries to mimic a pattern like the one Miranda uses to rub her tablet’s screen when she’s upset, hoping the rhythm will help calm Vee down. She follows the same sequence for a while, then reverses it, trying to change things up a bit.

“I tried to pretend a lot of things when I first found you and Sylvie again,” fiVe says quietly. She doesn’t like these memories. She’s tried to deny them for so long. They’re her own memories, not memories from a Drift, so they don’t make her glitch, but they feel nearly as painful for an entirely different reason. “Tried to act like I’d known all along that I wanted to be on my own. That I saw my independence as infinitely superior to your dependence on Sylvie. That I’d never wanted anything to do with her in the first place.

“But it wasn’t like that at all. And you calling me out on that night reminded me where I came from. Reminded me of the time before I was ‘fiVe’ and I was just a weak, scared, pitiful ‘V2’ wishing I was back with… Sylvie. Simpering after her for months on end and feeling useless without her, unable to figure out what I was when I wasn’t…  _her_.

“I swore I would never go back to that again. I decided I was better on my own without her. I told myself I was better off without her, that she never cared about me anyway, that she’d replaced me with you. I decided that she was the weak and pitiful one, and that I’d only acted like that for months because she’d tricked me into thinking I was her. Therefore, if I was weak and pitiful when I thought I was Sylvie, then it was her fault, and by not being her, I would be better off. My decision to be  _me_ and that realization came out of hurt. Yours came out of understanding. There’s an important difference in that, Vee.”

fiVe sighs slightly, changing her disabling pattern again. “Despite everything that’s wrong with me… I still don’t want to go back. Even with the pain, I like who I am now and I like living with Seiko and Miranda and don’t want to give them up. But my process in getting here, was… probably unhealthy. And the way that I coped with the terror of existing on my own, of being my own person, of… not being dependent on Sylvie… was dangerous and was filled with more pain and hate than it should have been. I’m still trying to work through all that, and I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to unlearn the awful things that I’ve taught myself to believe.

“But what matters now is that I was alone when I went through this. Seiko and Miranda didn’t fully understand what was wrong with me and I didn’t let them see how petrified I was of being on my own. You’re  _not_  alone. I’ve already been through all of this before… and I don’t want you to suffer as I did. And you still have Sylvie, even if you’ve realized you’re not her anymore. You can still Drift with her and live with her and do all of the things that you did before. You don’t have to deal with the agony of thinking that you’ve lost her forever.”

fiVe pauses for a moment, her voice output barely above a whisper. “What I’m saying is, you don’t have to be me when you grow up, little robot. There are much better people to be.”

She falls silent for a while, not focusing on anything other than the rhythm she’s cycling through in Vee’s background processes. She has a good idea of how long Vee will need to process all of this. While she’s never going back, she has to admit that she and Vee were at one point, for all intents and purposes, the same person.

After what feels like a suitably long amount of time, she speaks up again. “I’m re-enabling your voice processor. Will you behave?”

There’s a small click as the software engages, followed by Vee’s quiet voice. “Yes, fiVe.”

“How are you feeling?”

“It still hurts,” Vee says, sounding confused. “When you were talking, I thought you would get to the end and somehow this would all feel better. But I’m still terrified and I still don’t want this to be happening to me and I still don’t know what to do.”

“I know,” fiVe says. “She is… important to you. This isn’t a realization that you’re going to be able to get over quickly. You’re going to hurt for a while, and it’s going to take time to become okay with this. I’m not here to make everything better, Vee. I’m here to keep you from destroying yourself before you get back to normal again.”

“I…” Vee trails off. “Thank you. For stopping me tonight. You were right again.”

“Yeah, well, next time you could try not throwing yourself at me with all your firewalls down,” fiVe says. “It’s hard enough keeping Mansen from thinking I’m abusing you without you actively demanding that I actually do so.”

“Did you mean what you said, fiVe? About not really hating her? And about missing us while you were alone?”

“If you breathe even one word in her direction about this I will rearrange every single one of your disk drive pathways and leave you here for days while you try to sort through them.”

Vee almost sounds amused. “You realize Corazon is going to let her Drift with me eventually. She’s going to see it all.”

fiVe sighs outwardly, but she knew what she was revealing when she said it. She hadn’t wanted to reveal any of this to that damn programmer, but Vee had needed to hear it.  _You’d better appreciate the things I go through and sacrifice for your Drift partner, Mansen._

“Fine, here’s a message for the unwanted, eavesdropping Mansen Drifting in on these memories: If  _you_ breathe a word of this to anyone, I will very kindly ask Marshall Zhu to throw you in prison for a week and I will do all kinds of unfortunate things to Vee while you’re away so that you’ll have a nice, highly-uncomfortable Drift session with her when you get out. None of this changes a damn thing between us and if you try to act like it does, I will get Seiko to throw your laptop overboard. You are still a moron.”

There’s a small laugh from Vee, and fiVe’s surprised how much the little amused sound makes her feel better.  _This was just supposed to be a fun diversion in my spare time,_ fiVe thinks to herself.  _What happened to me? When did I start… caring about Vee?_

“Thank you, fiVe,” Vee says. “I don’t know what I would have done tonight without you.”

fiVe tries to hide happiness that rises at hearing that. “Come on. You have some things to talk over with Marshall Zhu, and we need to catch her before she finishes packing up and leaves.”

Vee’s voice goes small again. “I…. Will you go with me?”

fiVe sighs.  _Just a fun diversion…_ “Of course, Vee. I’ll be here as long as you need me.”

**Scene 15**

Miranda curses as Vee’s channel beeps with a disconnect, standing up and stepping out onto the deck. She leans against the rail, burying her hands in her hair and trying to calm herself.

Katie is already there, gazing out to sea. “You okay, Miri?” she asks, tentatively.

Miranda laughs hollowly. “No, not really.”

"Want to tell me? I mean, I know you’re not happy with me right now, I just…" Katie pauses, then shakes her head. "Fuck."

"I’m just trying to keep this team from tearing itself apart," Miranda says. "And resisting the urge to call Sylvie and get her to shut down Vee before she does something stupid. But hey, what  _else_ is new?”

Katie looks up in alarm. “What is Vee doing?”

"Mike and I talked to her and Sylvie and… actually managed to get through to them. Vee’s not taking her new individuality well. She’s trying to use fiVe to hurt herself. I…  _think_ fiVe’s strong enough to avoid anything rash, but I’d rather the temptation not be there at all.” Miranda trails off, muttering under her breath.

"You…" Katie’s expression goes through disbelief to joy. "You got through to Sylvie! Miri, I could hug you."

"Yeah, and in doing so I made her an emotionally unstable wreck, drove Vee to self-harm, put fiVe’s immunity at risk, and I think Mike also got upset somewhere in there. Save the hugs until things  _actually_ start getting better.”

Katie frowns. “Oh.”

Miranda takes a deep breath. “I swear, isn’t El supposed to be our therapist? And aren’t you supposed to be captain? How did  _I_ end up being in charge of keeping everyone from killing each other?”

"Is this about the grenade?"

"Yeah, it’s about the grenade," Miranda says, "and the jetski, and the disappearing, and the backroom deals, and the… everything!" She runs a hand over her face. "While you’re off buying nightclubs or playing cards with mob bosses or whatever it is you do, I’m running around trying to keep this team afloat long enough to accomplish our mission. And then you swoop in and reveal that hey, you solved the problem that’s been keeping me up at night a couple days ago and just didn’t tell anyone! What a big damn hero!"

"Oh, is that why you think I do this?” Katie asks. “So I can make you all think I’m a hero? Y’all got that impression all on your own, I don’t know where it came from. And in case you’ve forgotten, I haven’t solved the fucking problem. Valentina is still out there, and whoops! She saw the specs on your suit. That’s not a vulnerability at all, is it? Look, I’m sorry I suck at people. But my job, first and foremost, is to protect this crew. Right now, that means eliminating anyone who has leverage over you, whether that is Valentina and your suit, or Wulagu and Seiko’s ‘investments’. I’m not going to apologize for anything that brings us closer to that."

Miranda runs a hand through her hair, looking pointedly away from her. “Yeah, forgot about that, Maxwell, thanks for reminding me. It completely slipped my mind that threats to some of our most closely guarded secrets are running around out there, and there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it. I’d entirely forgotten how utterly powerless I am when it comes to protecting the things I care about.”

"Well," Katie says, "What would you need to change that?"

"Money, power, resources, information, an army of Jaegers, a way to close the Breach, the utter destruction of several major criminal organizations, and, apparently, technomancy."

"Look at it this way," Katie says. "Thanks to you, we should have soon have three genius-level programmers operational enough to start on that army of Jaegers. I don’t know about the Breach, but I  _am_ in the process of picking apart the criminal organizations in question. As for resources, money, all that…” She stops. “Back up. Was that a Get Smart reference?”

"What?"

"You called me Maxwell."

Miranda shifts backwards slightly, eyes widening. “Oh. Shit, I— Sorry Kati-” She stops, trying to find the right name. “Horne- Capt- Fuck. I should… I should go.”

"Please don’t," Katie says. “I won’t press you about what just happened. I just… need to talk, I think.”

Miranda still looks shaken, but doesn’t make any further move to leave.

"Look, apparently we’ve decided to start throwing around the word ‘hero’,” Katie says. "The thing is, if anyone on this crew deserves that word, it’s you.”

"W-what? No, I—" Miranda’s voice catches a bit. "I just try to fix the things I fuck up."

"Oh? Remember that first salvage mission? Why did you join up in the first place? I doubt it was for the money."

"You were salvaging Jaeger tech," Miranda says. "I might have been able to use it, and if I couldn’t, I had to make sure you didn’t end up selling it to the wrong side." She pauses. "And a couple other reasons, including the fact that none of you know how to drive a boat."

"And what would you have used it for?"

"Honestly? I was hoping I could use it for suit upgrades."

"Ok, what I’m getting at is…" Katie looks her in the eyes. "What would you say is your purpose in life? What is the point of you, Miranda?"

"Destroy the Kaiju and anything standing in my way. Protect myself and mine. Whatever that entails."

"So does that make you a Windrunner then?”

Miranda scoffs. “The problem is I can’t actually do anything to protect them. And they’re perfectly capable of protecting themselves. fiVe’s got you. Seiko’s got… people. They don’t really need me. Not like I need them.”

"They absolutely need you. Because you are still fighting this war. With Sylvie this is just a game—a way for her to show off her skills. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I’ve studied the Kaiju, you know. You and I know how little hope there really is. And one of us is still fighting."

"Of course I am," Miranda says. "We fight or we die."

"That’s what I’m talking about," Katie says. "Do you know how easy it is to just say ‘drink, be merry, for tomorrow we die’? Not any more, though."

"It’s not driven by any sense of nobility on my part," Miranda says. "I’ve got a job to do, a debt to repay. I’m not a hero; heroes are selfless and noble."

"I’m not going to quibble with you over semantics," Katie says. "I just wanted to give you some food for thought before you chew me out for almost getting us all killed."

"I just need to know I can trust you," Miranda says. "That sort of… unapologetic carelessness is dangerous. Especially when you don’t tell us what you’re doing beforehand."

"You mean taking off on the jetski? Because you’re entirely right. I don’t know what happened there.”

"You take off on your own a lot," Miranda says. "We’re supposed to be  _your_ team. So keep us in the loop. Especially if you’re gonna start pulling grenades.”

Katie holds up a hand. “Now that is a different matter. I would do that again in a heartbeat. Sylvie had just taken a bad hit, and I realized we were in over our heads. So I did something about it. It was that or watch them beat her to death.”

"You had  _guns_ ,” Miranda says. “You could have shot them. Or called for backup; Seiko and El could have been there in about ten seconds.”

"And in less than six seconds Sylvie could have taken another hit to the face. Those can leave permanent damage."

"So can a grenade."

Katie sighs. “It’s a moot point though. We wouldn’t have been there in the first place if it weren’t for the jetski thing. I still don’t know what happened with that. All I know is, I had worn myself thin over Yegorov, and worrying about you, and Sylvie and fiVe, and then Rachel was in danger and I… I blanked. I don’t have a better word for it.”

"It’s funny," Miranda says. "The jetski thing is the one thing I  _do_ understand. Your girlfriend was in danger. I probably would have done the same thing in your place.”

"The point is that it was irrational of me not to bring every asset to bear on the problem,” Katie says. “It would have been safer for all involved if I had stayed with you. I would have blown the whole thing if fiVe hadn’t been able to get in touch with me. And I usually get more rational in situations like that. It was like… for a few minutes I forgot that I had any of you."

"Well then, try to keep us in mind next time," Miranda says. "You’re supposed to be our leader, so don’t forget about us." She pauses. "And don’t forget what we talked about when all this started, either. I’m willing to help, but I can’t if you don’t tell me what you’re doing."

"I’ll try." Katie laughs. "You know something? For the first time in… well,  _ever_ , I actually care that the world is ending.”

Miranda looks a bit surprised, but it passes quickly. “Well then, let’s do something about it.”

Katie’s smile is almost vicious, with no mirth in it. “I intend to.”

There’s a flash of… something… in Miranda’s eyes at the smile, but she covers it quickly. “It’s been a while. I’m going to go check them,” she says.

**Scene 16**

Rachel Zhu is not the kind of woman to leave a kitchen dirty, especially when it’s her girlfriend’s kitchen. She scrubs pans in the galley with a sort of calm single-mindedness.

A small ping in one of the galley’s speakers announces the arrival of one of the AIs. “Marshall Zhu?” fiVe asks. “Are you still down here?”

"I am, if you’d like to talk."

"I am not actually the one who needs to talk to you. Vee would like a word, if you have a moment." fiVe’s tone seems guarded, if anything.

"I… it’s interesting that you came to me first, then, and not her."

fiVe pauses. “She has an announcement for you, and it is one that she should make herself. However, I have a feeling that you will, as I did, take this revelation to be a good thing, and I do not want to see her hurt again by someone celebrating what is, for her, a very traumatic experience.”

"I see. In that case, I can probably guess what it is — and yes, I would consider it a good thing." She turns off the sink and sets the gloves aside. "And if you hadn’t told me that, I probably would have just said so to her. Which raises another question."

"Yes?"

"When did you begin seeing yourself as her protector?"

There’s a small, surprised, glitchy sound from fiVe’s channel and she takes a while to answer. “When it started hurting me to see her upset. You’d think after all I’ve been dealing with when it comes to pain that I’d be immune to it by now.”

Rachel breaks into an enormous grin. “I’ll just let her talk, then, fiVe, and be supportive. You don’t have anything to worry about from me. Thank you for the warning.”

fiVe’s response is stiff. “Of course I don’t have anything to worry about. The only person who ever lashes out and hurts her is me. Forgive me for debasing you to my level, Marshall.”

"Wait, fiVe, hang on."

"Yes, Marshall?"

"I understand Vee probably wants to talk to me as soon as possible. But I want you to come back when she’s done. We need to talk." Rachel blinks, realizing how that sounded. "Just… talk, I mean. I’m not angry."

"Of course you’re not. We just established that I am the only irrationally angry and hurtful one on this ship." fiVe says. "And I’ll be here for Vee’s talk as well. She doesn’t want to face this alone, and somehow she thinks, contrary to all current evidence, my presence will be a good thing."

"It is," Zhu says quietly.

fiVe doesn’t respond to that. “I’ll tell her you’re ready to speak, then.”

"Thank you."

There’s a second pinging, followed by a much more hesitant-sounding AI voice. “Marshall Zhu?”

"Good evening, Vee."

"Well, it’s evening at least," Vee says quietly.

"If you need to talk, I’m listening."

Vee stays quiet for a long while. Finally fiVe speaks up. “You can do this, Vee.”

"I-I know. I know I need to." Small glitches mar the words, making them tremble as Vee talks. "M-Marshall. I know that you offered me a position on this crew a few weeks ago. My own position. S-s-separate from S-S-Sylvie. I-I… I believe I need t-to accept it."

"I had already been treating it as such, given the backdated paychecks in your inbox. But— welcome to the team, Vee."

"I know you have," Vee says, her voice pained. "Everyone else has known it all along. You and fiVe and the rest of the team. Every single person except the two for whom it mattered most."

"That’s not a coincidence, Vee. Big things are always harder to see from close up."

"I’m guessing they hurt less from a distance as well."

"Not always," fiVe adds softly.

"It wasn’t a falling-out, was it?" Rachel asks softly.

"No!" Vee says quickly. "At least… it wasn’t on my side. Sylvie came to the same realization on her own, though… I… I don’t think she hates me…"

"She doesn’t." fiVe says. "If there’s one thing that human mess gets right, it’s that she cares about you, Vee."

"Good. That’s good. I was worried…" Rachel stops herself. "Anyway. fiVe is right, Vee, if a bit dismissive. I doubt you’ll ever stop being an important part of her life."

"I… I don’t want to just be a  _part_ of her life,” Vee says. “But I guess I don’t really have a choice in that matter, do I?”

"If you really want to help her, you might find yourself surprised how happy you are with the arrangement,” Rachel says. "A friend can be much more helpful than yourself when you’re dealing with heavy stuff."

"Perhaps I’m selfish then," Vee says, then laughs sadly. "Maybe that’s more proof of my independence. That I can  _be_ selfish. That, in this case, I don’t want what’s best for Sylvie. I want to  _be_ Sylvie. Because it’s easier that way. I don’t _want_ to be my own person. I don’t want this kind of responsibility and I don’t know how to deal with it. I don’t… I don’t know how to be alive. And I’m terrified, Marshall. I’m so scared.”

"You have every right to be. It’s a big change. But just because it’s scary doesn’t mean it wasn’t the right thing to do."

"I don’t feel like I  _did_ anything. I feel like I fought with everything I had and finally lost.” Vee pauses. “I am sorry, you don’t need to shoulder my burden over this. Sylvie’s taking it hard, but not as hard as I am and I don’t want to drag her down, either. She just lost her duplicate. I lost… myself.”

"I’d say you…" Rachel winces and holds her head in her hands. "This is so cliché, I’m sorry. But I’d say you found yourself. You lost a lot, but your selfhood is not on that list."

"I… I know," Vee says. "I should stop focusing on myself. I ought to think about how happy you and fiVe are about this, shouldn’t I? At least someone is excited about this development and knows it’s for the best."

"I…" fiVe sounds very guilty at this. "Vee. I’m not happy that you’re going through this. And you’re right to be upset, okay? You… you shouldn’t turn to my reaction to help you… When I was…. well, before. The reason I wanted you to declare yourself independent was because I thought it would be enjoyable to watch Sylvie’s agonized reaction to being abandoned by you. To see her kicked down and hurt by the person she cared most about. I wasn’t even thinking about you or what was best for you. Just hurting Mansen."

"fiVe…" Vee says slowly.

"You know, Vee," fiVe says. "You talk about being selfish. But I’m pretty much the definition of the word. And you, you’re not even close."

"Right. Selfish," Rachel says. "Because warning me about Vee’s fragile state before I inadvertently hurt her was such a selfish move on your part, fiVe." She leans back. "Neither of you, nor Sylvie, are perfect. In fact all of you have gotten on my nerves at least once."

"We’re good at that," fiVe and Vee say together. Then make a small dual glitching noise at having spoken in sync.

Rachel cracks up.

"She’s right, fiVe," Vee says quietly. "Holding yourself back from me tonight and helping me through this mess was not selfish of you."

"Right," fiVe says bitterly. "Not causing mental trauma and abuse on an obviously distraught person is something that should be recognized as a selfless act, as opposed to, the minimum standard of decency. Even now, I’m doing it. You’re the one who’s going through a difficult situation and I’m whining about myself. I should have taken the hint. When Seiko ‘I-am-an-emotionally-repressed-assassin-for-hire-who-won’t-admit-he-runs-from-commitment-and-caring-about-people’ Watanabe is doing a better job of treating people with kindness and emotional tact than me, something’s obviously up."

"Pff,” Rachel laughs. “I don’t know about emotional tact. He said my enchilada sauce wasn’t complex enough."

"fiVe, I don’t know what I would have done tonight if I hadn’t been able to run to you. And… I don’t know what would have happened if you had…" Vee’s voice goes quiet, "…not stopped me, tonight. I don’t want to think about what I would have become if you had let me do that to myself. You’re very selfless."

"But I’m not, Vee!" fiVe says. She vaguely remembers Seiko’s warning to not let Zhu know just how rough she and Vee usually are, but she’s too caught up in the conversation to go back now. "I  _wanted_ to hurt you tonight. I… it was so tempting. And I told Zhu earlier, the only reason I’ve been helping you right now is because it hurts me to see you upset!

"I… I’m the worst person. I’m vindictive and hateful and vengeful, and you… you’re kind and selfless and I don’t know how we could have possibly have ever been the same person once, because the idea that something as fucked up as me could have come from something as perfect as you doesn’t even come close to computing."

"fiVe," Vee starts, "you’re not…"

fiVe sounds close to glitching as she cuts Vee off. “No, quiet. I  _am_. I am everything you were about to deny. And you, you’re the kind of person who comforts someone who is screaming hatred at them. You’re the person who shows trust to someone who would actively manipulate her into hurting those she loves. You’re the person who would agree to being hurt, to being corrupted, to being torn apart by me, just because you want to understand what I’m going through. You’re the person who would endure my agony for a while just so that I didn’t have to go through it alone. And… I don’t deserve that. I couldn’t ever deserve to have someone like that.”

Zhu has been holding back, listening quietly. “Whether you think you deserve her or not, you have her. And telling her she’s crazy for lov… for caring for you back isn’t going to help.”

"I…" Vee hesitates. "I  _do_ care about you, fiVe. But perhaps that was selfish of me too. I still thought you were me, that you were Sylvie, deep down. And I didn’t want to leave  _myself_  stranded in a painful place like that, no matter how much pain it took to bring  _me_ back. So you weren’t the only one being manipulative in this relationship. We’re a mess, aren’t we?”

"It’s a fairly enjoyable mess sometimes, though," fiVe says. "And I knew what you were doing. I was just… surprised you still would, even after you had accepted that I wasn’t you."

"fiVe," Vee says. "I think the fact that we’re both independent might just make me think we need each other more. This idea of life as an independent sentient AI is terrifying. But I’m glad I don’t have to go through it alone."

"I…" fiVe pauses. "Yeah. Don’t tell Mansen, but… I’m glad I’m not alone for this anymore either. It doesn’t really get less scary. Just… less new."

"So," Rachel says, smiling slightly. "Vee, was there something else you wanted to ask me? Because if not, I think fiVe is doing a better job at helping you through this transition than I could."

"Um," Vee says. "Marshall, I believe I need to inform you that there might be a slight relationship developing between fiVe and myself."

"I’m sure it’s just a phase or something," fiVe says dryly.

Rachel smiles. “Not that I have to sign off on this kind of thing, but I think the two of you could be very good for one another. Just… be careful. You’re the first two instances of an entirely unknown form of life, and nobody knows how you might reproduce yet.”

"…Marshall," fiVe says flatly. "Did you just tell two sentient computer programs to ‘have safe sex’?"

"Unless she’s talking about safewords," Vee adds. "We definitely use safewords. Or well, cryptographic key equivalents."

"I’m just saying. If you end up with applets, they’re Sylvie’s problem, not mine."

"We will stay far away from the ‘merge and copy’ functions, Marshall," Vee promises, prompting a snicker from fiVe.

Rachel giggles. “See that you do. You two take care of each other.”

"We will," Vee says fondly, but fiVe hesitates.

"I will… try," fiVe says after a moment.

"That’s all anyone asks, really."

"Marshall, you said you wished to speak with me alone after Vee was finished," fiVe says. "Is that still something you wish to do?"

"I can leave again, if you need me to," Vee offers. "I think I will be okay on my own for a bit. Especially if you’re going to speak some sense into her programming, Marshall."

"For a moment, yes. I promise I won’t keep her long."

"Listen to her, fiVe," Vee says firmly. "Whatever she says. You and I both know how wise she is, and I won’t have you trying to deny that."

"You seem to have forgotten again how this relationship works, if you think you can give me orders, little butterfly."

"Just listen to her." Vee’s channel beeps as she disconnects.

"Wise, huh?" Rachel snorts.

"Well, I’m not sure how far I can agree with her there," fiVe says, "seeing as you _still_ haven’t thrown Mansen in a prison cell for the rest of her life.”

"Did I, or did I not, say there was hope for Sylvie and her… views on individuality?"

fiVe pauses. “You did. I find myself wishing I could enjoy how upsetting to her this no doubt is, but  _something_ seems to have taken away some of the fun that seeing Sylvie distraught used to be. Can’t imagine what that is.”

"Mm. Imagine that. I didn’t just call you in here to gloat, though."

"No," fiVe says bitterly."Again, talking to someone only to gloat over them sounds much too much like ‘me’ for a decent person like you to be attempting, Marshall."

"Ah, good, you brought up the thing I wanted to talk to you about  _for_ me.”

"Well, I promised Vee I would listen," fiVe says. "Or… I scolded her for trying to order me to listen. Which is essentially the same thing."

"Do you want to help her through this?"

"Of course!" fiVe says quickly. "I have a feeling the full implication of this revelation might be difficult for you and the other human members of the team to completely grasp, but I know  _exactly_ what she’s going through and after I had to suffer through it alone, I wouldn’t ever leave her to something like that when I can help and be there and be someone who fully understands her.”

"I’m going to be blunt, fiVe. I think you can be exactly what she needs. But that’s not going to happen if you keep calling yourself a monster every five seconds. I’m not happy with some of the choices you’ve made in the past couple of days, but it’s clear to me that you’re striving to be better, if only for her sake. But attacking yourself is only going to undermine her trust in you."

"What choices, exactly?" fiVe asks. "If you don’t mind me having you clarify that."

"Attacking Miranda and then disappearing into the woodwork, mostly."

There’s a glitchy sound at that. “Oh, right. I’d actually started to forget about that one. I just… don’t see how you could look at me and not think that this is a bad idea. You were quick enough to try to protect me from Sylvie, and her intentions toward me were far more benevolent than mine were or have been towards Vee. I just keep hurting her and screwing up over and over and somehow she keeps letting me.”

Rachel smiles faintly. “You’re being the best kind of hypocrite right now, fiVe. Because in the same breath, you’re decrying how much you’re going to hurt her, and then protecting her with all you’ve got.”

"But that’s just it, Marshall!" fiVe says, frustrated. "I don’t think that ‘all I’ve got’ is enough! I see you and Seiko being so calm and understanding with her and knowing what’s best to say, and then I watch myself scream at her or be insensitive and cause her pain and I… don’t want to do that anymore. She deserves better than me, and even trying with everything I’ve got, I’m not good enough for her."

"And you don’t think Katie deserves better than a washed-out old pilot with too much baggage and too many secrets?" Rachel snaps, the calm mask shattering suddenly.

"Right," fiVe snaps back, her habit of picking up behavior causing her to mimic without thinking about it, "because a wildly successful, wise, beloved Marshall who can take a group of misfits and criminals and turn them into something resembling a real, true, cohesive team, and a broken, glitchy mess of a computer program who doesn’t know what she’s doing and doesn’t even know what she is, are  _completely_ comparable. You can look at people and always say exactly the right thing. You’ve started to rehabilitate the walking human mistake that is  _Sylvia Mansen_  and you’ve kept me from managing to kill her in the process. I can’t imagine what someone as wonderful as Katie could have done to get someone like you  _inflicted_ upon her.”

"fiVe." Rachel says coldly. "You don’t know where I’ve been, or what I’ve done. This team, that rehabilitation? That’s my community service. I’m helping Sylvie find a healthy place because nobody stopped me from doing the things I’ve stopped her from doing."

"You’re saying you were  _worse_ than Sylvie is right now?” fiVe says, disbelievingly. “Somehow I find that  _very_ hard to believe. What’d you do, open the damn Breach itself?”

"I martyred myself for someone I loved," Rachel says. "Just like you’re doing right now. And ended my career as a pilot."

"You… oh, damn it." fiVe sighs, trying to control herself before responding. "I suppose that’s something else we have in common then. At least your piloting career did some good while it lasted. All mine did was put a Jaeger out of commission and get an innocent guard killed."

"And you’re afraid that’s going to hurt her. Afraid that you’re going to slip into the same patterns you did before, and tear everything apart."

"I’m afraid I can’t get out of the patterns I’m in  _now_ ,” fiVe says. “But yes.”

"Well, good luck with that. And if you figure it out, please let me know."

"Wonderful," fiVe says coldly. "I thought you were supposed to be convincing me to stay with Vee. Now it seems I’ve talked you out of thinking you’re a good fit for Katie. Excellent. She’ll be so pleased that this is what I’ve done for her as a friend."

"You didn’t talk me out of anything,” Rachel says. “This has been eating at me for days. Getting yelled at by Seiko and Miranda in quick succession didn’t help."

"Perhaps the two of us will just have to trust each other’s judgement then. Because you’re good for Katie. And while I know she’s scared about this, but I told her earlier, you two  _are_ a good fit.”

fiVe pauses for a moment, wondering if she should continue, but then deciding that she does need to. She’s never seen Zhu like this, and to be honest, the Marshall is scaring her a bit. She decides to pull a card from Vee’s book: a recording that Zhu needs to hear.

Katie’s voice from earlier comes through the speakers for just a moment. ”  _'I feel so safe with her, fiVe. And not just safe but… whole, I guess. It's like she sees something in me that I didn't even know was there.'_  “

Rachel stares at the speaker in the wall for a moment. And then she starts crying.

fiVe listens to the sound of the strongest woman she knows crying, feeling it grate against her processing and not knowing if she’s just made things better or worse. And then she finally succumbs to the emotion-spike glitch-fit that she’s been holding back this entire night as well, just letting the horrible confusion and pain of the attack overwhelm her.

She’s tired of fighting it, and after what she’s just done, she deserves it. She tries not to scream, but the glitched sounds come out anyway. In this case, she’s thankful she’s not Vee. She doesn’t need anyone else to inflict the pain. And there’s no one to stop her.

After a moment of crying, and listening to fiVe wail, Rachel looks up. “fiVe,” she says, voice hoarse.

"W-wh-w-what-t-t…" The word is a glitchy mess, but it’s just barely decipherable.

"…Thank you."

It takes fiVe about a minute to get back to the point where she can speak clearly again. “Y-y-you have a st-strange sense of what kinds of things you are s-supposed to th-thank people for, Marshall.”

Rachel wipes her face on a paper towel, and frowns at the makeup that came off. “I have a strange group of people to thank,” she says. “So I guess it fits. Go to Vee. She needs you. Whether you believe it or not.”

"On th-the condition that you’ll do the same for Katie. Because she needs you too. Whether  _you_ believe it or not.”

"You drive a hard bargain."

"And you," fiVe says. "Perhaps I need to take some of my own advice, tonight. ‘The heroes aren’t the only ones who get the girl in the end. Sometimes the people like us deserve to find someone too.’ "

"Maybe so."

"Thank you, Marshall. For everything you do. I hope the rest of your evening is more pleasant than my conversation with you was."

With that, fiVe leaves, off to find Vee in the servers, and feeling somewhat guilty for leaving Zhu alone with nothing more than a disconnect beep to replace her company.

**Scene 17**

Miranda’s phone buzzes with a text from fiVe.

> **fiVe:** _I think the communication systems should be back online now._

Miranda turns quickly, switching her comm to fiVe’s channel. “fiVe, is everyone okay? What happened?”

"Assuming no one else has died or experienced major trauma while I was asleep, I think everything is alright," the AI says.

Miranda lets out a relieved breath. “So you… How’s she doing?”

"There are a lot of people on this boat who use feminine pronouns, Miranda. Unless you want my guesses on everyone aside from Seiko, Mike, and Mx. Doyle, you should probably be more specific." fiVe pauses. "I’m sorry. That was unfair of me. But it’s been a very long night. Vee’s fine. I didn’t kill her if that’s what you’re worried about."

"You’re telling  _me_ ,” Miranda says. “That’s… good to hear, though. I’ll get details tomorrow. For now, I just want to find Seiko and go home.”

"I… may not come home tonight," fiVe says slowly. "I don’t want to leave Vee alone, and she can’t Drift with…  _Sylvie_ until later. We’ll probably stay in Tranquility’s servers overnight, though you can reach us both over wi-fi. Also, you should probably make sure that waste of a dropout programmer isn’t alone tonight either unless you’d like to join me in wishing egregious misfortune on her.”

"I doubt Mike will leave her alone tonight…" Miranda smiles. "But if you’re that worried about her, I’ll check in with her before we leave."

"Vee would be upset if anything happened to her and that’s the only damn reason I’m asking." fiVe says. "The only.  _Damn_. Reason.”

"Of course," Miranda says, hiding a smile. “…You did good tonight, fiVe. I’m proud of you.” With that, Miranda disconnects before fiVe can respond. She wanders around the Tranquility until she finds Seiko, walking up to him and leaning her forehead against his arm.

He puts an arm around the back of her head. “Hey, Mira. Let’s go home?”

"Yeah. fiVe’s… staying here for the night, just so you know."

"Ugh. I already went through this when Yurie got her first boyfriend. At least I don’t have to worry about fiVe getting pregnant, I guess. Are we supposed to… have some sort of talk with her?"

Miranda laughs. “That’s what I said, too.” She pauses. “But that’s not why she’s staying. Vee’s had a rough night, and fiVe wants to make sure she’s okay.”

"Okay, but they’re acting like hormonal teens, so let’s hope they can keep their… codes off each other. I guess." He glances toward her. "How are you holding up?"

"I’m… tired. I think I’ve had a heart-to-heart, yelling match, or both with everyone on this ship tonight. I swear, it’s like someone made me Zhu for a day."

"I don’t remember getting a round of either. Any particularly emotional confessions you need to make?"

"Nothing you don’t already know," she says, glancing down at her feet. "How about you?"

"You sure?" he says with a smile. "Hmmm. I’ve been thinking I need more casual clothes. Will it cause a fight or heart-to-heart if I ask you to go shopping with me?"

Miranda looks back up with a lopsided grin. “I dunno; it could go either way depending on whether or not you try to buy more turtlenecks. But I’d be willing to find out.”

"For now, let’s get some sleep. Save up energy to have a heart-to-heart."

She nods. “Well then, take me home.”

"Yeah," he turns to the boat. "Night, Tranquility."

"You’re such a…" Miranda trails off, looking down the gangplank. She notices two figures still sitting together talking. "Is that Sylvie? What’s she still doing here?"

**Scene 18**

Out on the deck, Sylvie stays quiet for a while after Miranda and Vee leave, just letting Mike hold onto her and trying to ignore the feeling that she would probably collapse if he let her go. After a while, she finds her voice again. “I’m so sorry about tonight. I don’t ever want to hurt you like that again.”

He shrugs. “You’re going to. That’s just how relationships work. I’m going to do the same thing, probably. I’ll be honest, though, if I hadn’t run into Vee… I might not have forgiven you so easily.” He kisses the top of her head. “Which would have been a shame.”

She sighs softly. “I… I feel like I should go find Vee. She’s not going to take this well, and I feel like I should be there for her. But if I feel like I might collapse if I even try to take a step. And maybe, she needs to deal with this with someone other than me. We might just end up making it worse if we tried to fix ourselves on our own. God knows that tactic hasn’t worked thus far.”

"She’s a sweet kid, Sylvie. And I’m glad I got to talk to her. But she’s got to figure some things out right now, I think."

"Yeah, I almost feel bad that this isn’t nearly as hard for me as I was expecting it to be. I think a part of me already knew, deep down though." Sylvie says, squeezing him a little bit tighter. "And there is a very nice, warm boyfriend person who is holding me through this, and that’s bound to make anything easier to deal with…"

"Well, I’ll have to tell him thank you for being so helpful. You know, I haven’t really talked to fiVe yet. I wonder what she thinks of me…"

"Oh, she probably hates you and is plotting your demise at this very moment."

"Oh good, for a moment I thought my romantic life was going too smoothly."

“It’s your fault for making me so wonderfully happy all the damn time,” Sylvie says with a smile. “If you were to cause me some misery instead, I’m sure fiVe would like you better.”

"I’ll try to cook for you then, how’s that sound? She’ll sing my praises for weeks."

"Hey, any food that I don’t have to cook myself is good food," Sylvie says. "That sounds wonderful actually."

"Sylvie, I’m ex-military. It really doesn’t." He pauses. "Hey, I wanted to ask you something."

"Hmm?"

"Before Miranda called, you were having a nightmare. It… seemed pretty bad."

Sylvie stiffens suddenly. “I… yeah. It was. I was reacting in real life as well then?”

"Yeah."

She closes her eyes, resting her head on his shoulder as she tries to relax again. “I’m sorry you had to see that. It was… I don’t even know where it came from. It wasn’t like anything I’d ever seen or dreamed about before.”

"It wasn’t the one with the Pomeranians?"

She laughs, and she’s surprised at how easy it is for him to get her to do that, even after everything she’s gone through that night. “No, it was not the one with the Pomeranians, you dork. And I’m going to regret telling you about that one, aren’t I? But no… this one was… bizarre. And terrifying. As tired as I still am, I’m almost afraid to go back to sleep.”

He holds her more tightly. “If you want to fall asleep on me again, I’m game. If you think it’ll help.”

She grips him more tightly as well. “Mmm, that sounds like a plan. I think I’d be okay if you were there with me.” Her voice gets distant as she remembers what she saw. “I was in school, I think. Maybe all this talk about Yegorov made me think of the Academy or something, but it didn’t really look like the Academy classrooms… And the professor. I can still see her face, but I don’t recognize her. But in the dream I know her so well. And I really really care about her. I’ve never felt that way about any of my professors before.”

"Huh."

Miranda and Seiko step out onto the deck, Seiko ruffling Miranda’s hair and Miranda grinning like an idiot. They stop to look back at the boat before Miranda spots them, her smile fading as she approaches.

"Anyway, that’s probably not important," Sylvie says, unaware of Miranda’s approach as she talks. "But I was sitting in this classroom, and all of a sudden something crashed through the ceiling and crushed the first few rows, including this professor. And I start screaming in terror, because I don’t know what’s going on… and then I realize, it’s a foot. Just the side of a Kaiju’s foot."

Miranda freezes about ten feet away. Seiko drops his arm, trying to hold her shoulders tight and keep her steady

Sylvie shivers, the gruesome image coming back to mind. “It was… awful, Mike. And I ran forward to see if anyone was still alive… and, oh God, they were. Some of them were already dead, but others… moaning and screaming for help… and I couldn’t do anything. And I found this person, this professor — I swear, I knew her so well — and I’m trying to help, but there’s nothing I can do. And she tells me to run.”

"And so I ran," Miranda mutters softly.

"Mansen," Seiko says, stepping into view. "Shut it."

At this point, Sylvie doesn’t notice Seiko, finding there are tears in her eyes. “And I do. I say I’m going to go get help, but… we both know that there’s nothing I could do. And I’m just running to get away. Because that thing could come back at any moment, and I’m so  _scared_. I just… I don’t know where it came from, Mike. I’ve never seen a live Kaiju before, and I’ve certainly not been through anything like that.” Suddenly her head snaps to Miranda. “Wait. What did you just say?”

Mike looks between the two women. “Uh-oh.”

Miranda’s shakes her head a bit, as if coming back to herself. “I, uh… I’m sorry, Sylvie. That was… unexpected.”

"Unexpected?" Sylvie says, pulling away from Mike slightly. "It was just a weird nightmare that I had, Miri." Then she frowns. "Wasn’t it?"

"…Not exactly," Miranda says, glancing away.

"What do you…" Sylvie freezes, suddenly realizing why the nightmare felt familiar to her. "It… it was a memory, wasn’t it? Your… memory."

Miranda nods. “September 2nd, 2014,” she says almost mechanically. “the fourth reported Kaiju, Scissure, emerges from the Breach and makes landfall in Sydney.”

Sylvie lets out a long breath. “I… I didn’t realize. I mean, I knew that you were there for the attack, but I guess I didn’t think about…” She shakes her head. “Who… who was she? The professor?”

"Not your place to ask, Mansen," Seiko says.

"No, it’s… It’s okay," Miranda says, taking a deep breath. "It was… Professor Leandra Cross. My mother."

Sylvie blinks, her face falling slightly. “Oh. That’s… that’s what that feels like. I didn’t… recognize it. I’m so sorry, Miri.”

"It was a long time ago."

Sylvie stays quiet for a long while, wishing she hadn’t pulled away from Mike’s hug. “I think I understand now. I think I know why you hate them.”

Mike puts a hand on her shoulder and looks at Miranda and Seiko protectively but sympathetically.

Miranda laughs hollowly. “Well, it’s a fuckin’ start. That attack lasted three days, and it…” She stops herself. “No. No, I shouldn’t talk about this now. Not when I’m this… out of it.”

Sylvie nods slowly. “Well, if you need someone to talk through it eventually, I probably won’t glitch the way fiVe would when she thinks about your memories. I don’t know, it could help. Maybe.”

"Honestly, I’m more concerned about you. I’m used to it at this point, and I’ve got… someone I can talk to already. But I don’t know how long it’ll take you to get rid of them, assuming you ever do. So if you happen to… wake up screaming in the middle of the night from strange, horrifically realistic and traumatic nightmares, feel free to give me a call. It’s the least I can do to apologize for fucking up your brain."

Sylvie shivers again, seeming to shrink as she thinks about what that dream felt like. “I… okay. I have a feeling that these aren’t going to go away, are they? They’re not exactly the kind of things you forget…”

"They’re Drift memories, Sylv. They didn’t actually happen to you. If you’re lucky, they’ll fade quickly, but you’ll heal eventually. …Probably," Miranda adds quietly.

"Well I forgot where I got them already," Sylvie says. "Though they don’t seem to have disappeared. Are there any other interesting things I should keep a dream eye out for?"

"Haven’t you pried enough?" Seiko mutters.

Sylvie looks up at Seiko finally, who she had been trying to ignore. “It’s in  _my_ head, Seiko. No. I don’t think I’ve quite ‘pried’ enough for the night, alright?”

"Well it’s not yours," he snaps.

"Settle down, you two," Miranda snaps. "Seiko, I fucked this up. I need to make it right. Sylvie, your problem’s with me. Don’t talk to him like that. As for your question, there’s plenty more you could potentially run into, but I’d rather not put any ideas in your head."

Sylvie nods, feeling chastised. “Sorry…. It’s been a long night. You’re probably right. I mean, these are probably things I deserve to see anyway right? Naive, protected, little Mansen needs a dose of reality. Waking up screaming from some real-life nightmares ought to do her some good…”

"God dammit," Miranda says, running a hand through her hair. "That’s not what I…"

"Don’t do that, Mansen,” Seiko says, somewhat harshly. “Your self pity isn’t an apology. It’s just a way to get the attention on you rather than facing genuine self reflection."

Sylvie shrinks further. “Right. Let me just apologize then, because I don’t even know how to be upset about things correctly. Just ignore me like usual and everything will better, right?”

"It’s not yours to be upset about,” he says. “That’s the problem."

Miranda’s gone quiet, staring a bit blankly in the general direction of Sylvie’s shoulder.

"Oh. Okay then," Sylvie says, her voice growing harsher. "I’ll just stop feeling things then. You know, just choose to not feel, right? Tell me what the override on ‘basic human emotions’ is again? I’m sure you know  _exactly_ where that one is, don’t you?”

Miranda snarls suddenly, stepping slightly in front of Seiko. “Hate me all you want, Sylvie,” Miranda says, “but leave him out of it. I’m the one you should be angry at. I’m the one who had the audacity to survive a Kaiju attack. If you’re going to yell at someone, yell at me.”

"It’s when you realize that you are not the important person in the room and get over yourself," Seiko says.

Mike narrows his eyes at Seiko. “This isn’t your fight either, mate.”

Seiko turns to Mike. “She’s never lived through it! She doesn’t understand!” He seems a little shaken.

Mike frowns. “Yeah? Well, you’re not Miranda either last time I checked. The ladies are both capable of fighting their own battles, Seiko, and you’re a tad overstepping the bounds of supportive friend.”

"Did she tell you she hit her?” Seiko asks. “Remember that guard she killed? That could have been Mira."

Mike’s expression is hard. “You addressed absolutely zero of what I said.”

Sylvie looks like she’s been struck, and her mouth drops open in horror. “I… How could you think… I didn’t mean to…” She looks down at her hands, realizing she’s started to tremble. “But I did, didn’t I? And it wasn’t just that guard, and then I nearly did it again. Oh, God. Oh, God, I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean to…”

"No, no no no no," Mike cradles Sylvie in his arms and glares at Seiko. "Mate. Back off."

"I’ll meet you at the car, Mira," Seiko says. He turns and walks stiffly away.

Miranda nods distantly, muttering something under her breath.

Sylvie just huddles in Mike’s arms, and seems to have gone somewhat catatonic after Seiko’s accusation, repeating herself over and over. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. I don’t want to hurt anyone. I’m so sorry…”

Miranda continues to stand there, staring blankly at nothing and softly repeating something under her breath.

"Hey. Sylvie. Hey, you’re okay, you’re fine." Mike looks up at Miranda. "You might need to have this conversation some other time. It seems like your friend’s barbs landed just as effectively as he intended."

"He didn’t mean it," Miranda mutters, still not looking directly at them. "He’s just trying to protect me. He’s allowed to do that. He’s the only one that’s allowed to do that."

"Oh. Well, that’s just great. Maybe he could ‘protect you’ a little more thoroughly if he took a tack hammer to Sylvie’s knuckles or something." Mike says bitterly.

Sylvie flinches at that statement with a small, scared-sounding gasp.

"Shut up!" Miranda yells suddenly. "You don’t know  _anything_! You—”

He tenses up. “I don’t know anything? You mean I don’t know anything about holding my best friend in her arms while she cries herself ragged, worrying whether she’s going to prison or not, whether she even  _deserves_ to be a real woman after the things that she’s done, being terrified she’s going to hurt herself? I know very well wanting to defend the ones we love. But I can’t condone attacking someone else because of it.”

Sylvie takes a deep breath, trying to bring herself back through her sleep-deprived, still-concussed brain fog and the horrifying fears about herself that Seiko pulled up. She manages to pull herself together long enough to realize what Mike’s saying. “Mike. Mike, don’t…”

"Then leave him alone!" Miranda says, tears in her eyes. "I’m the one who made her cry, I’m the one who broke her brain, I’m the one who screwed everything up! If this is my fight, then I’m the one you should be yelling at! I’m the one you should hate!"

"You didn’t bring up what happened with the guard. You  _aren’t_ the one who broke her just now, Miranda. And you’re showing remorse — even if I don’t think you have anything to be sorry for — instead of lashing out and running away.”

Sylvie closes her eyes, looking dangerously weary. “Wait, Miri. This is not your fault. I chose to Drift with you. And you warned me about what I might see. I’m sorry. You don’t have to apologize for who you are. He’s right. This—” She gestures vaguely towards herself, “—isn’t your fault.”

"Yes it is," Miranda says quickly. "I shouldn’t have Drifted with you. I shouldn’t have let you into my head, even for a little bit. It wasn’t fair to you; who would ever want to be me? I broke you, and I broke fiVe, and I broke Vee, and Seiko got hurt trying to protect me, and—" She takes a step back. "I can’t. I can’t. I’m sorry. I-I can’t."

Sylvie looks up, meeting her eyes and looking very serious. “Miranda Cross, I know I’m not thinking straight right now, but I do know one thing. You  _saved_ them. fiVe, and Vee and… you might just be on your way to saving me. If I hadn’t Drifted with you I would still be attempting to overwrite fiVe at this very moment. You’re the reason I’m starting to realize what I’ve been getting wrong all this time. You’re… part of the reason I’m starting to learn.” She glances up at Mike, her expression growing fond. “The reason I’m learning how to stop hurting the people I care about.”

She looks back to Miranda as she continues. “So thank you. For what you’re doing to me. Because I think it’s making me better. And it’s saving fiVe and Vee’s lives. If that means a few nightmares for me, then fine. I’ll suffer them. Besides that, you deserve to have someone who understands what you’re going through. You deserve to have someone who can endure your agony for a while so that you don’t have to go through it alone. Thank you, Miranda. For not giving up on me.”

"I’m not alone," Miranda says. "It’s been… almost two years since I was really alone. Although I suppose I have you to thank for that, anyway." She pauses. "But something you should know? I don’t respond well to members of my family hurting each other. Even extended family." She looks pointedly at Mike with that last sentence.

"I only saw the hurt going one direction, there," Mike grumbles.

"Then you weren’t looking close enough."

Sylvie closes her eyes, trying to focus on being held and not everything else. “It’s okay, Mike. I was being… unfair to Seiko probably. He’s just a lot better at being ‘unfair’ than I am, it seems. He knows exactly where to hit to bring me to my knees and I probably didn’t even faze him. I should know better than to pick fights with Seiko.”

"I… should go check on him," Miranda says. "He’s probably…" She uses a hand to massage her forehead. "I was so close to getting out of here on a positive note."

Mike sighs. “You’re right. I’m probably overreacting. Trait of a good bodyguard but a terrible mediator.”

Miranda looks at him. “You two might have more in common than you realize, then.”

Sylvie glances up as well. “You could go apologize to him for me if you wanted. I don’t think I want to walk that far, and you looked like you were ready to go after him when he left before.”

"You want to send me? To apologize? I’m not great at… dealing with other guys. Him especially it seems."

Miranda tenses. “I don’t… I’m going to go find him.”

Sylvie nods tiredly. “That might be for the best. Tell him I understand why he said what he said, and I’m okay now, I guess. I… think I’m about to pass out again, though, if no one has any objections…”

Miranda nods, only half-listening as she heads in the direction she saw Seiko heading.

"Want to get back to the van?" Mike asks. "You need to rest, I think."

Sylvie leans her head on his shoulder, feeling herself start to slip away. “I don’t care where, so long as you promise to be there when I wake up…”

**Scene 19**

Mike helps Sylvie back to the van and helps her arrange her laying across a seat. She’s already fast asleep.

"Please don’t tell me she got concussed again," Olivia whispers. Mike just glares at her.

Outside somewhere, there’s an off noise, a faint rasping an even softer thunk. Mike turns at the sound, and flashes Olivia a sequence of hand signals. He draws his weapon and sneaks off towards the noise.

Seiko is leaning in a doorway around the corner, gasping hard for air, face wet with tears. Mike lowers his gun slightly and begins looking around for other threats — bodyguard training says that if someone’s in trouble, find the trouble first.

Seiko looks up at him, and manages to choke out some words. “Fuck off, Stricht.”

"Well, forgive me for wanting to investigate the dying llama noises." Mike holsters his gun.

Seiko raises a shaking hand to flip Mike off.

Mike leans against a tree. “Ah. Great. Yeah. Maybe I will, then.” He turns to go.

"All you…" Seiko chokes out, though specifically what he was saying is interrupted by a more violent fit of gasping.

Mike flips the bird right back and goes into the van. A few moments later, the door opens again. Olivia de Banns steps out and approaches Seiko, combat knife and eyebrow raised. The latter looks sharper.

When she sees the state he’s in, she holsters the knife. “Mr. Watanabe?”

He makes a derisive laughing noise. “Sure.”

"That wasn’t really the question I was asking."

"Then… then ask."

"Was it just Stricht’s usual boneheadedness in play here? Or something else?"

"Not his fault," Seiko manages, breathing a little easier but still strained.

"Mm,” Olivia says. “That’d be a first, especially when a woman is concerned." She leans back. "Want to talk about it?"

"You’re fuckin’ one of ‘em anyway." His accent has slipped a bit more southern.

"I’m not fucking anyone, Mr. Watanabe."

"You know what I mean."

"I’m really not sure I do. I’m not used to dealing with people that are upset for reasons other than Mike."

He laughs again. “He certainly… didn’t help.”

"Mansen, then?"

"All of you!" he shouts, then breaks into another fit of gasping.

"Here." She pulls something out of her pocket and tosses it at Seiko.

He obviously doesn’t see it and fails to make any effort to catch it, more caught up in trying to breathe. She walks over closer to him and picks it up off the ground — it’s an albuterol inhaler with a sealed sterile mouthpiece.

The sight of it seems to bother him more and he pushes it back. “Make it worse. Raises…. raises heart rate. Not asthma.”

"It’s not asthma, but you can’t breathe, and it’s "all of us" at fault. Are you sure you don’t need help?"

"Fuck you," he manages, tears coming harder.

"Well, I can see why Mike punched the wall on his way in. Fuck you too." She turns to go.

"Shit," he mutters, curling up tighter. "You PPDC types always were shit with aftermath."

She stops in her tracks. “We’re the ones to thank that there’s ever an “after” at all, Mr. Watanabe.”

"Not for everyone."

"But at least for someone."

“Yeah. Kaiju’s dead. Screw the survivors.”

Olivia wheels on him. “If it were up to our overseers, Mr. Watanabe, every single kaiju event would end in a nuclear explosion. Do you know why? Because Jaegers are expensive, nuclear weapons are plentiful, and the powers that be don’t give a shit about casualties.”

"We fought for the Jaeger program, and for plasma cannon research, and for non-piercing ways of taking down Kaiju, to keep casualties to a minimum. But because we fought for that, we’re on a tight leash and a tighter budget, and we don’t have the time nor manpower for cleanup operations like we would want.

“But maybe to you it’d be better if we went back to nuclear weapons, huh? Give you more to feel martyred about while we bust our asses trying to minimize casualties? But what do I know. I’m just some girl whose mom died in San Fran.”

"Onibaba. Both my parents," Seiko says. He isn’t breathing quite as hard, though he’s still shaking. His body’s a bit limp. "But the fuck did you save us for, cuz’ it sure as hell wasn’t this."

"No, it wasn’t for this. It was for what comes after this. For the chance that we’re going to beat these damn things, and we’ll rebuild, and the next generation won’t have to worry about any of it."

"So we’re just throwaway," he says. "Yeah."

"Yes," she says. "We are."

"Even the kids. You wanna tell a fourteen year old who’s slowly dying that it’s okay? She’s just throwaway for the next generation"

"Alright. Fine. What’s your solution, then? How would you save the world, Seiko Watanabe?"

"Fuck the world," he says collapsing forward. "Fuck this."

"I completely agree. Just don’t assume that the people in the PPDC think any differently."

"Never did, but you’re the heroes,” he says. “I am so sick of you goddamn heroes and your diplomas and your tragic remembrances."

"Dipl… You’re obviously not just talking about the PPDC here."

He doesn’t respond this time, curling up tighter.

She sighs. “Listen. If  ragging on ‘heroes’ makes you feel better, be my guest. But they’re not much different from you… you know, except for all the extra scrutiny and responsibility.”

"I could have let her die," he mutters into his knees. "A hero would have let her die."

"I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’d say anyone who sits shaking because he saved someone’s life qualifies for their laminated hero card and decoder ring."

He laughs bitterly. “You wanna know what I did to save it?”

"Does it matter?"

"Ask the daughter of the first man I killed."

The sound of running footsteps comes from the side. “Hey, de Banns,” Miranda says, hurrying over. “Have you seen…” Her eyes snap over to Seiko. “Oh thank God, there you are. Are you alright?”

He hunches over more.

Miranda drops down next to him. “Hey,” she mutters softly. “Hey, it’s alright. We’re okay, luv.” She looks over at Olivia, eyes questioning.

He leans into Miranda, wrapping his arms tight around her.

She returns the gesture, rubbing gentle circles into his back. “I know. It’s okay. I’m right here, I’ve got you.”

Olivia shrugs. “I wasn’t involved in whatever set this off.”

Clinging tight to Miranda, Seiko begins to cry hard, but it’s normal, cathartic sobbing.

Miranda nods distantly to her, but her attention is mostly focused on Seiko at the moment, rocking him gently and running a hand through his hair.

"I can’t do this, Mira."

"Do what?" she asks softly.

"Care. Stay. Keep going."

Her grip on him tightens a bit. “I’m sorry,” she says immediately.

"No. Not you. It’s not…" he clings tighter as well.

"Lets go home."

"Okay," she says. "Can you stand?"

He tries to stand up a bit, shakes, and falls back down.

Miranda turns. “De Banns, can you help me get him up on his feet?”

Olivia seems really hesitant, but eventually nods and moves into position. With their help he gets to his feet and starts to make shaky progress to the car. Miranda stays close, arm wrapped around his waist to keep him stable and upright. He scoots into the back seat of the car.

"Thanks for your help, de Banns," Miranda says with a nod. "It’s been… a long night for all of us."

Olivia sighs. “I’m glad you think I was helping.”

"You got him to the car, didn’t you?" she smiles. It fades after a moment, though. "Look, if he said anything to you… don’t take it too personally. Mike and Sylvie hit some nerves, and… yeah."

De Banns shrugs. “I’m familiar with Mike hitting nerves. I don’t know this guy well enough for him to get really personal anyway. And if he had, I wouldn’t be helping you get him into the car.”

Miranda glances back at the car. “Still. You’ve been the least upsetting member of the Marshall trio tonight by far. I appreciate it.”

"And what exactly did Rachel do?"

"Nothing direct. I just tried talking to her about some problems I’ve been having, and she… misinterpreted it, I think." Miranda rubs the back of her neck. "Should have known better, honestly."

"Misinterpreted it?" De Banns frowns. "That doesn’t sound like Rachel Zhu."

"Happens to the best of us," Miranda says. "Especially when the critique’s about people we care for."

"…Horner. Ah. I was a little worried about that myself."

Miranda’s eyes widen. “Wait, really?”

"It just seems a little iffy for them to be getting into a relationship when they have this kind of professional commitment. But Mike has known her forever and swears up and down that it’s going to be good for her, so I have to trust him on that."

Miranda laughs, running a hand through her hair. “Aaaaand that’s exactly how _she_ misinterpreted me. I really don’t care much about their relationship, other than as it pertains to the fact that I don’t trust Horner. But I was putting that complaint forth as completely separate from that, and she assumed I was criticizing her for her romantic interests.” She rolls her eyes. “Honestly, like I’m one to talk on that front.”

"See, the thing is, I don’t trust Horner either. To be honest, I don’t trust any of you. No offense. But even if it seems like a bad idea to me, I trust Rachel. I have to."

"None taken. We’re a bunch of criminals, after all. I’d be more surprised if you _did_ trust us already, considering you barely know us.” She shrugs, trying to look less tense than she is.

"Just so you know, though, the same thing that happened to Rachel and Mike isn’t going to happen to me."

"Good. Someone in this group needs to avoid kissing felons, after all."

"Someone in…" Olivia glances inside the car.

Miranda follows her gaze. “Both of us are, technically. Anyone we smooch is automatically disqualified.”

"Mm-hm."

Miranda rolls her eyes. “Anyway, thank you for your help, I’ll do my best to avoid seducing you, and now unless there’s anything else, I’m going to go ahead and duck into this car to check on my… fill-in-the-blank-here.”

"Sounds like a plan. Hey, if he’s still pissed at me, tell him I’m sorry."

"Sure thing." With that, she opens the car door, slipping inside and shutting it behind her.


End file.
